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Beads of Courage -- Discussion for all things Beads of Courage; the only not-for-profit, arts-in-medicine program putting to use the talents of glass beadmakers to uplift children dealing with life threatening illnesses, their families and the people who care for them. Families, clinicians and artists alike are welcome to join in! (Thank you to Lampwork Etc. for supporting Beads of Courage and helping to foster communication!) PHOTOS OF INDIVIDUALS OR CHILDREN ONLY ALLOWED WITH THEIR SPECIFIC CONSENT.

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  #1  
Old 2010-02-25, 11:08pm
BOCprogram BOCprogram is offline
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Default Sharing stories from Beads of Courage, from the Program Director

Hello artists! What a treat to see so many artists committed to learning more about Beads of Courage, Inc and how your work inspires these children and their families... I will check in from time to time and share stories that hopefully communicate the power of what you are doing daily at the torch! Keep up the amazing work! Colin Smith, RN Program Director

Meet Ivana...member hospital: Children's Medical Center of Dallas.
Story told by her mother...

Towards the end of Ivana’s Induction Phase, prior to starting out
with the Beads of Courage program, she was very ill and didn’t
really care for anything except to be constantly carried or to just
snuggle up in bed because she was so very weak. Once her therapy
started, she just stopped all her activities and games as her
fingers would go into spasms if she focused on something for too
long. She would constantly stumble and fall while running or
playing with her only cousin, Shawna who is a year older and is
very close to Ivana, so she started to lose interest in playing
with her. She didn’t even have any strength to do any of her
studies or homework (we home school Ivana) like coloring or
writing or even reading which she normally enjoys very much.

When the child life staff at Children’s first introduced us to
Beads of Courage, no-offense but we as parents thought this was
really some psycho babble or another coo coo ideaJ We decided at
that point to just use the beads as a way to help distract her from
the harsh reality of her pain and suffering and all of the hospital
procedures, etc. Needless to say that even thought Ivana’s entire
team of doctors and nurses are exceptionally kind and are the type
of caregivers who always do their very best to keep her as
comfortable as possible, she was the one going through it and we
thought that this was maybe a way of helping her to endure – maybe
we could fill them in a jar and that could be her distraction!

We soon saw how excited she started to get about the beads when we
noticed her beginning to memorize her bead colors in relation to
her therapy and could do it without much pain or it being mentally
taxing to focus and this was indeed good news for us. She liked
the beads so well that it started to help her make more sense of
her procedures and all she’s going through.

When we started to see that after a few visits her string of beads
getting longer, then we as parents recognized that the beads really
made sense and there was a logic and planning behind their design.
The simplicity of the program is such that it can be done by any
one leading to a strong sense of accomplishment for the road
traveled. Now we look at it together and can see at a glance her
journey towards healing, punctuated with her hospital stays, her ER
visits, her clinic visits, her transfusions, her chemo and so on.
It has been therapeutic both for Ivana and us to see where she was
and where she is now and what she has been through. It does
uniquely depict our journey together with her and we thank the Lord
for those of you who took the time to plan a program for children
undergoing extreme medical treatment that is easy and simple and
yet enjoyable with the least amount of excursion and mobility on
the part of our little ones.
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Old 2010-02-26, 5:54am
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Old 2010-02-26, 11:13am
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Wiping away the tears! What a beautiful testimonial!
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Old 2010-03-01, 12:45pm
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LoriGreenberg LoriGreenberg is offline
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Thanks for sharing that Colin!

I was just thinking the other day,after one story was shared here, that beadmakers don't get to hear the journeys and the impact that their work has on someone like we (who are involved administratively) do.

I love hearing how the strands of beads help to get someone through, or how they bring life and animation to kids who are usually so tired and depressed. Or the funny stories of kids looking forward to their beads like the one where one of our girls woke up from a really long surgery and the first words out of her mouth were something like, "Boy, I'm gonna get a lot of beads for that, I bet". Or warning a nurse before they go under an anesthetic that they "better make sure they get all of their beads" for the procedures.

The list goes on. We'll look forward to hearing them Colin!

Thanks to Ivana's family for sharing their experience and many hugs for speedy healing!!!
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Old 2010-03-01, 12:53pm
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I didn't experience it personally, but the favorite reason I heard for a bead was making a new friend during a long hospital stay... I try to send a few matching ones with every batch, just in case two kids want the same bead to remember meeting each other...

Thank you for sharing these.
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Old 2010-03-01, 3:40pm
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This is good to hear. Nikki, what a wonderful idea! Your involvement, your foresight is amazing!
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Old 2010-03-31, 5:09pm
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Thanks for all you do for this amazing program Colin!
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Old 2010-04-03, 1:06pm
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Thank you for sharing this with us.
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