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GR
2012-03-31, 8:44am
Hi Lampworkers,
Like many of you, I have made several donations to Beads of Courage. Theoretically, it's a great idea that kids might enjoy beads to signify what they have been through.
Recently, it became personal. My toddler grandson was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer. Difficult cannot begin to describe what he has been through. He has been through 4 rounds of chemo and a major surgery. His week looks like this - an appointment for chemo, a poke and a tube insertion for blood counts and chemo delivery, some type of test (another poke, plus the test, often under anesthesia). Each round of chemo he gets a transfusion (another poke/tube), and an overnight stay in the hospital. He's been in the PICU and ER, and taken morphine. And each cycle he gets neutropenia - that means his white blood counts are so low, he has to be isolated from people (everyone but mom, dad, grandma, grandpa and medical personnel.) Each of these is "routine" and he gets a bead. Beads to signify these treatments are specific colors, purchased by Beads of Courage due to the large number used.
The “routine” is just the beginning of what he has been through. As lampworkers, we contribute beads used as “Act of Courage Beads.” You may wonder what that means. Talking with a nurse, she said it can be anything. Her example was a teenager who walked down the hall in the clinic for the first time in months. For my beautiful boy... sitting up after they cut open his abdomen, or taking his 10th dose of oral meds for the day, and then taking it again because he threw up. The process of treating cancer is torture to these babies and children. Our "Act of Courage Beads" encourages them at a low point.
The nurse I spoke with said the kids most often choose bright, big beads. But there are kids of all ages - so think of the kids you know and what they might like. You could make a character from a movie, or an animal. Or maybe a child is fixated on a color and you could make the best "purple" (or any other color) bead a child could imagine. She also said they would like beads with letters on them.
My hope is that you all can better understand how important our donations really are to the treatment and healing process of these children. They are fighting a war for their lives, and maybe our little beads can help on a day they need it most!