Bravery Beads - helping children and families
When a child at Sick kids Hospital in Toronto starts their difficult journey with a life-challenging illness, they are given a necklace with their name on it. Every visit they get to collect some beads to add to the necklace, these are called bravery beads. The bravery bead program at Sick Kids Hospital lets children collect a new bead after every clinic visit or procedure. This program has been around for 20 years. Walking through Sick Kids Hospital you will see many images of children wearing their bravery beads.
There are more than 100 beads, all shapes and colors. The beads have been specifically chosen by clinical staff. Every bead symbolizes what the child has gone through and how brave they are. As a result, the necklace represents the unique journey of the children – as no necklace is the same. Each bead tells a story.
Sick Kids Hospital is not the only hospital that offers this program. Many children’s hospitals around the world do something similar. In Australia they have the Little Star Beads program. They even have a special Tiny Little Star Beads program for the babies in their NICU. At Boston’s children’s hospital they have bravery beads but also bravery hearts that are given to the parents. The Beads Of Courage program is in the UK. It is interesting how the program started in the UK. You can read about it here.
When we found out about Alice’s tumor her doctors kept asking us if we had started collecting Alice’s beads. We had not heard of bravery beads before. I did not know what they were. It took us around 3 months to get around to asking for them and I am so glad we did!
Alice loves wearing her bravery beads and showing them to her daycare friends. She loves collecting them, they are part of her special journey. Something we will always have to remind us of everything that she has through. Alice loves putting them on her favorite koala, Kiki. Kiki comes with us to all hospital visits too.
Now that Alice is older, she has quite a collect of them. We use them to talk to her sister about what happened at hospital that day. We are so glad that we have this program!
I am 20 years old and was diagnosed with a brain tumor at the age of 10. I collected bravery beads during my journey, and I loved them! It gave me something to represent my cancer story and journey in a way that did not involve surgery scars. Instead of showing my surgery scars or needle pokes in my arm, I could show my beads that represent my story in a creative way. They are something that I will keep forever as its my story....my cancer story.
I collected them for my son. We really enjoyed the program. We knew after any procedure he could collect a bead. It was also a great keepsake on just how far he came with his journey and to be able to show people just what these kids go through.
This program is wonderful! It helped my daughter get through many scary procedures...it was like receiving little trophies for every time she was brave and got through each procedure.
She would bring them to school for show and tell and the kids were amazed at all the beads and what she conquered! Many kids her age had never had blood work before....to see her string of 59 red beads and all the other beads she got totally shocked them! They were so proud of her and she felt so strong and proud of herself. She enjoyed telling them the meaning of each bead.
For a child who has cancer, they often feel helpless and afraid. She felt so big and strong having gotten through so much and having the beads to prove it and tell her story!
I have bravery beads and as a patient myself (21 now but was diagnosed at 6 months old) these I found really helped get through treatment and hospital stays! It was always a positive thing to look forward to getting whenever I would need any treatment or tests done. Still have them to this day and keep them displayed out on my dresser to remind me of the journey I survived.
Our 15-year-old daughter, Katie, passed away in February 2011. I treasure her beads as a wonderful reminder of how brave, inspiring and courageous she was during treatment.
I always laugh remembering her favorite one...the 'brown' one for pooping after surgery. She thought it was hilarious that she would get a bead for that. Katie loved collecting them, always looking for the perfect one when she had her choice. She loved helping the younger kids with their beads (she had wanted to be a daycare teacher). They represented a fun, inspiring way to face the beast of cancer.
Thalia was 18 months when she was diagnosed and when the nurses offered me beads, I thought "this is a bit silly, she's too young to understand the beads." Then I realized that the beads were also FOR ME. I understood them. I really enjoyed collecting them, because they were her story.
Thalia also has two older sisters who could not quite grasp all the details that treatment entails, especially because so much of it took place at the hospital and they were not seeing most of it. The beads turned into a way to keep her sisters up to date. They would come and visit her at Sick Kids and then look for her beads and say "oh, Thalia, did you get a poke? Looks like you had chemo today." And they started to recognized what each bead meant.
I treasure these beads. We have six long strings of them. They tell Thalia's story of a time that she can't fully remember, but a story that has left lasting marks in our lives. Every time we go back for scans we pick up a few more! So the beads do not ever stop.
My son Casper started collecting beads at the time of his diagnosis when he was two. At the beginning, I collected them for him, so he would be able to look back one day at everything he endured at such a young age. I found it cathartic myself, stringing the beads, a visual reminder of how strong Casper was, and continues to be. Now that he is 5, his journey is still far from over, he has beads galore, and he loves collecting them, and knows what color he earns for each medical procedure.
We are a long way out from treatment, and with time, the memories blend together and the sharp edges fade. The beads ensure that we never forget the incredible bravery and strength our daughter endured and is a testament to the journey that is more objective. The beads do not blend and fade. The beads to us are very sacred...each one deserves to be honored. They are more precious than the "family jewels."
Is your child collecting bravery beads too? let us know in the comments below!
There a number of different programs for children that are seriously ill. TinySuperheroes and the Feel Better Friends doll are two that we really do appreciate as well! Click on the name to check out the articles about these two amazing programs.
18 thoughts on “Bravery Beads”
This was so informative, thanks for sharing!
This is a beautiful, heartfelt post. I love that you included other families in it as well who have benefited from the beads. So special!
We really enjoyed getting to know other families and their amazing children!
This is truly a beautiful project. I love seeing families come together like this 🙂
What a great program and stories. Thank you so much for sharing. Sending love!
Thank you!
This is one of the most heart warming posts that I have read in a while. I absolutely love the concept and loved reading the different stories. Thank you so much for sharing!
Thank you so much, We are so glad you enjoyed the article!
This is beautifully written. Love the bravery beads.
What a lovely post! The idea of bravery beads is fantastic and so helpful. Is there any way for people to donate to something like this?
Thank you so much for sharing this article. It is a incredible story and wanderful projec ❤️
Yes. If you click on the bravery bead link for Sick Kids there should be an option to donate. So glad you liked the article!
Great work, what an inspiring post.
This is such a wonderful program! It’s incredible to read other people’s experiences with how the beads helped them and their families. Thank you for sharing!
What a wonderful program! I have not heard of it before. Thank you for sharing this information! I will be sharing this post as well 🙂
Thank you so much! We really appreciate you sharing!
You are an amazing person for giving a voice to this special practice and to these people who’ve been touched by in. Thank you for sharing as I had no idea about bravery beads before reading your post today.
Thank you so much, I am so glad you enjoyed the article! We are so glad that there are amazing programs out there for families with children who are seriously ill, It makes a huge difference.
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