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Through the Legacy Beads Program at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, patients collect colorful, glass beads that represent their experiences during treatment for cancer or other catastrophic childhood illnesses.
Children net one bead for each event: a square, orange one for physical therapy; a green, cone-shaped bead for a CT scan; silver for a final chemotherapy session; gold for remission. During the past year, the hospital has purchased more than 90,000 beads for the program; if placed end-to-end, the strand would extend longer than six football fields. To start, participants receive special beads emblazoned with the hospital’s logo; pieces of string; and square, ceramic beads that spell out their names. Then they begin amassing their unique collections.
“If they visit the clinic three times in one day, they get three blue beads,” said Cara Sisk, a Child Life specialist at St. Jude. “Eventually they can say, ‘This is how many times I went to the clinic.’”
The Legacy Beads activity is only one of numerous offerings sponsored by the St. Jude Child Life Program. Child Life helps minimize the stress and anxiety associated with treatment and hospitalization. One way that Child Life specialists help children cope is by allowing them to express their feelings and chronicle their journeys. Some patients create scrapbooks or take photos; others tell their stories through journals, videos or art projects. Begun in April 2009, the Legacy Beads Program provides an additional avenue for expression.
More than 500 patients now participate in the program, which offers nearly 50 different beads. St. Jude families find novel ways to display their Legacy Beads. Some fashion strands that can be hung from the ceiling; others adorn strollers, purses or backpacks with the baubles.
Teens say the beads give weight and heft to their stories, providing a tactile method for demonstrating the breadth of their experiences. “It gives them a concrete way of sharing their stories,” Sisk said. “It helps bridge that gap back to home, as they talk with people who don’t understand what they’ve been through.”

Source: St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital