Mackenzie Bearup, a 16-year old girl, seeks escape in the comfort of reading books. She has shared this strategy with thousands of troubled children and helped soothe their own pain through sharing donated books.
Bearup compares the pain in her knee to a bomb explosion. Six years ago she discovered this horrible pain while jumping on a bed and dancing. Unexpectedly her knee began to horrendously hurt. By the following day her knee was the size of a grapefruit. Seeking medical consultation lead to misdiagnoses. Finally Bearup was diagnosed with Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy. This is a disease which causes the nerves and blood vessels in the affected area to tell the brain "that the injury is still there". Sadly there is no cure.
Bearup told CNN.com, "The kind of pain I feel is very hard to describe. It will explode at random times [and] when something touches it, it's like I'm getting stabbed multiple times."
This is what lead Bearup to seek escape in the pages of books. "When I read, it's a real escape. I try to take myself into the book instead of in the real world where I'm in so much pain," says Bearup. When she became aware of a nearby treatment center for severely abused children, Bearup had an idea.
She started by asking everyone she knew to donate books and tell their friends to donate too. She also stuffed flyers inside mailboxes and launched a web site. Bearup's goal was to donate 300 books, she was able to give the center 3,000. Since 2007, Bearup has collected and donated more that 38,00 books for homeless and abused children in six states. With some family help, the young girl was able to start her official nonprofit Sheltering Books in 2009.
"If one homeless or abused child finds a love of reading through books that I've given, then that will help them in school and just turn their life around entirely," she said. "I really think that reading can do that for someone."
Mackenzie Bearup is a CNN Hero.
Information and picture credit to www.cnn.com.
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