Once on the trail a child or young person with cancer receives a special bead after any treatment, procedure or intervention to thread on to a chain.
At the start of their chain is their name and then at the end of their treatment they get a special end of treatment bead to mark the completion of a very hard, emotional and sometimes long journey.
The beads are all bright and colourful, signifying a plethora of events from an overnight hospital stay, removal of a plaster/stitch, eye drops, chemotherapy and radiotherapy to loss of hair and blood or platelet transfusions. There are even beads that can be used to recognise if the child or young person has a good day or a bad day.
The chain marks the patient’s journey whilst providing an opportunity for them to talk to others experiencing similar treatment. The beads also facilitate conversations about what they are going through with grandparents, siblings, friends and others. Bead trails are sometimes used by psychologists as a way of helping a child or adolescent to work through their feelings about the journey they are going through.
Many Principal Treatment Centres (PTCs) have a bead trail programme that every child that is offered but not all PTCs have them. The largest programme in the UK is Beads of Courage, but there others and some parents fund the programmes through their own or a local charity.
Beads of Courage are one of the main bead trails available. It is available not just for children with cancer but for any serious illness such as:
- Cancer and blood disorders
- Cardiac conditions
- Burn injuries
- Neonatal (intensive care unit) families
- Chronic illness
The child or young person’s bead trail grows with each week of treatment giving them and their families a tangible diary of the journey they have been on and what it has involved. This is proven to be of great therapeutic benefit. Children who are able to attend school can take the Bead trail in to show classmates and teachers have found that it helps the child tell their own story about what they are going through and never fails to impress their classmates.
Beads for routine procedures are uniform but the significant event beads (e.g. hair loss, a trip to intensive care) are hand-made and unique, so the child or young person chooses the particular one they like.
Further information: