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Beads help children fight cancer
By Alice Korach
 Beads of Courage® (www.beadsofcourage.net) is a wonderful program that was started at Phoenix Children’s Hospital by Jean M. Baruch, RN, BSN. It touches the lives of children undergoing treatment for cancer in a very personal and beady way.
When a child enrolls in the program, he or she is given a length of stringing material and the alphabet beads that spell out his first name, along with a membership card and pamphlet that explains the meanings of 22 different bead colors that will serve as markers and milestones for every step of his battle with cancer. For example, a blue bead is given to the child to commemorate every visit to the cancer clinic, red beads stand for blood transfusions, glow-in-the-dark beads for radiation therapy, and so on. A child also receives special, larger, one-of-a-kind beads to mark “Acts of Courage” milestones, such as a bone-marrow transplant (the donor also receives an “Acts of Courage” bead). The goal is that every child’s strand end with a purple heart bead to celebrate the successful end of his treatment.
 The beads that a child accumulates throughout treatment are not only a reward for the pain and difficulties he must endure, but also a way to help him talk about what he is going through with others. They mark each small or large step positively and help reinforce the goal that the child and his family and care givers are all striving toward.
The International Society of Glass Beadmakers (ISGB, www.isgb.org) endorses the program, and many beadmakers donate Acts of Courage beads, purple heart beads, and sadly, butterfly beads that are given to parents whose child has lost the battle. Some ISGB teacher-members like Katie Stuart, encourage their students to donate class beads to the program, as well as donating regularly themselves. Of course, cracked beads or beads with rough hole edges can’t be used, but wonky, idiosyncratic, or practice beads make wonderful markers for each child’s courageous acts.
 A party in mid-March 2005, at the Phoenix Children’s Hospital celebrated the first anniversary of the program. Writing about it in The Arizona Republican (3-26-05), Brent Whiting quoted several of the children and their parents: “ Tanya Radaha, 17, a leukemia patient, has three strands with more than 150 beads,” as do many of the other children. “Her mother, Cathy Knutson added, ‘I think it’s a great program. The beads help give the kids something to look forward to, even though they’re going through a terrible time in their lives.’”
Fourth grader, Travis Vonende, whose cancer is in remission, has crafted his beads into a train design to stand for his hope of becoming a train engineer.
As the program grows, the need for beads increases rapidly. There are currently three licensed Beads of Courage sites: Phoenix Children’s Hospital, Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, and Oakland Children’s Hospital. And founder and director, Jean Baruch, is in continual contact with additional hospitals that are part of the National Association of Children’s Hospitals. Beads of Courage is one program of Beads of Courage, Inc., a non-profit corporation, whose mission is “to promote the well-being of children suffering from cancer, and their families, by strengthening resilience-based protective processes, and preventing illness-related negative effects that can occur from cancer diagnosis and related treatments. Beads of Courage, Inc. achieves its mission through the development and implementation of research-based supportive care programs in major pediatric oncology treatment centers.” Jean’s hope is to implement the Beads of Courage program in all hospitals where children with cancer receive treatment, and the ten new hospitals with which she is currently working will become members as soon as start-up funding to cover the cost of program materials can be secured.
  
The idea of using beads as an adjunct in children’s cancer treatment was the brainchild of Sharon Gove, MSW, at British Columbia Children’s Hospital. The acknowledgement and positive reinforcement that simple, colorful beads provide to tell a child his struggle is worthwhile and noteworthy aids greatly in helping him maintain the courageous outlook he needs to be able to win that fight and go on from there.
Cheryl Stoneberger, an oncology nurse at Phoenix Children’s Hospital, hopes that the beads will have an even more far-reaching effect on each child’s life, “When they face new challenges, they’ll be able to look at the beads and say, ‘Hey, I got through that, and I can get through this.’”
We at the Bead Bugle encourage you to visit the Beads of Courage website, www.beadsofcourage.net, and do what you can to help.
– Alice Korach
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