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Cancer Patients Tell Tales Of Courage With Beads
When soldiers have served bravely in war, they can proudly display their courage and honor through the wearing of medals and ribbons. Unfortunately, when children with cancer and other serious illnesses engage in the battle for their lives, there often is no visible evidence they can show of their courageous fight.
Now through the Beads of Courage program, these children can display tangible badges of their strength and bravery.
The program, founded by Jean M. Baruch, RN, BSN, provides each child with a length of string and beads that spell out his or her first name. Then the children’s nurses and other healthcare providers award the children beads of different colors that represent a different procedure or treatment milestone. The children add the beads to their collection throughout their treatment.
For example, a white bead represents one chemotherapy treatment; a yellow bead, an inpatient admission; and a glow-in-the-dark bead, radiation treatment.
When children complete their course of treatment, they receive a specially made, one-of-a-kind purple heart bead. Children can also continue to collect beads after treatment during follow-up appointments.
The list of treatments and their corresponding beads and colors is extensive, as is the amount of treatments these children must go through. They collect, on average, more than 500 beads each, according to Baruch, who is also executive director of Beads of Courage, Inc., a nonprofit company.
“Beads showcase their journey with cancer and enable children and adolescents to talk about what they have gone through,” adds Jayne Roses-Landau, RN, pediatric research nurse coordinator and ambassador of the Beads of Courage program at City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, Calif.
Everyone Loves Beads
The program has been embraced by children and teens of all ages, and boys are as interested in collecting the beads as girls, according to Roses-Landau.
Infants and toddlers can also participate in the program through their parents, but they are not given beads directly, due to the potential choking hazard. However, as infants and toddlers grow older, the beads their parents collected for them can serve as a road map of their journey with serious illness.
“We’ve had families thank us for acknowledging what their children are going through,” says Roses-Landau. She adds that parents have thanked her for giving them a vessel that helps them and their children discuss the disease and its treatment with extended family and friends.
The Butterfly Effect
Families of children who succumb to cancer and other serious illnesses are given a specially handcrafted bead that represents the end of the journey. Each bead is unique and created by artisans in the form of a butterfly.
“For parents, the beads are something for them to grasp, and it helps them cope even when the children don’t survive,” says Mary K. Sawin, RN, BSN, OCN, CPON, a staff nurse who brought the program to Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Del.
Nuts and Bolts
Baruch says the Beads of Courage program is a cost-effective way to help address the psychosocial needs of children with serious illnesses and the children’s families. Participating in the program can also be a rewarding experience for nurses because it helps them connect with patients.
Beads of Courage, Inc. supplies on-site training for nurses and other professionals who will be giving out beads. The training includes how to integrate the program into daily practice. The program, which supplies the specially crafted multicolored beads, costs the nurse’s facility about $20 for each child.
Catherine Spader, RN, is a contributing writer for Nursing Spectrum and NurseWeek.
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