This UPenn student is brightening the holidays for childhood cancer patients
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Photos: Courtesy of Jyoti Bhatnagar
Spend a few minutes with Emily Bhatnagar, and two versions of her appear at once — a kid all grown up, and a grown-up kid.
The big picture: The 21-year-old For Love & Buttercup founder and second-year UPenn student runs her days like a hard-charging, mini–business titan: Zoom calls, email pitches, a steady drip of espresso — two sugar packets and oat milk to dull out the horrible taste.
- But her workspace isn't a corner office — it's her family kitchen in Maryland, complete with her dad's countertop reminders: "Don't use the microwave. Use the stove to heat up your food."
Driving the news: While most college students veg out for the holidays, Bhatnagar keeps a busy itinerary, including booking a weeklong trip to Philly next week to lead a book drive for kids with cancer — a disease that's touched her family.
- Her nonprofit is giving away more than 2,000 new and lightly used books to pediatric hospitals and centers in the region.
Catch up quick: When her father was diagnosed with Stage 4 thyroid cancer five years ago, Bhatnagar went from worrying about juggling AP classes and mock trial and prepping a future college application to Yale University to helping care for her dad.
- She'd crush pills and put them in applesauce for her dad after a procedure made it hard for him to swallow. They'd watch reruns together every morning of "Everybody Loves Raymond" — something they still do today.
- But Bhatnagar also needed her own way of coping with her dad's illness. So she started For Love & Buttercup, pairing two of her favorite things — books and the bright yellow flower.
- With the help of everyday donors, the nonprofit has gifted more than 25,000 books to kids across the country.
- Bhatnagar's story has captured national attention, and she was honored as a CNN Young Wonder in 2023.
Zoom in: Bhatnagar is planning her next big move: writing a memoir about her experiences visiting sick children in hospitals (one girl got all primped, others set up games and puzzles for her visits), dealing with her own grief and hoping her father — who still manages his cancer through a daily dose of meds — gets to see her milestones.
What they're saying: "I feel immense sadness for my younger self," Bhatnagar tells Axios, "for her thinking like she had to speed through life. I still find myself thinking that sometimes I want to do everything I want to do before I lose my dad.
- "I want him to see me graduate, to get married, to have all my career wins, and that's like so much pressure to put on yourself."
So what does Bhatnagar do when she's not carrying the weight of the world or cramming for finals for her virtual classes? She binge-watches her favorite show, "Love Island," and dives headlong into a good memoir.
- She's already read 23 books this year, including Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai's book, "Finding My Way" and Mitch Albom's "Tuesdays with Morrie."
Yes, but: The bibliophile confesses that although her nonprofit gives away physical books, she usually does her reading on a tablet.
The bottom line: "There's something so intimate about holding a book," Bhatnagar says. "That's the feeling I really want these kids to experience — when they open a book and all of the other problems in the world just slip away."