by Ashley on January 16, 2012
I love how the perfect bead seems to find the perfect strand. Hi there, this is Ashley, Communications Director for Beads of Courage. I have a wonderful story to share and I hope you can help me as well.
I’m looking for the Artist who made this bead (the blue one with the flower and lady bug):
These strands represent a beautiful story. Angela, found out at her 9 week appointment that she had conceived quadruplets. She remained on complete bed rest until her delivery at 34 weeks. I’ve included her note to me about the bead and the significance of it to their family.
The blue bead used on Hope’s (our baby we lost) was absolutely beautiful and brought us to tears for many reasons. The 1st thing I noticed was the 4 clear ball beads on top of it (one has fallen off in this picture but there was a 4th). It was interesting because three of them were grouped together on top, then there was a space and the 4th was further down. To us, that was very significant because that is what happened when we lost Hope in the pregnancy. She dropped below the other 3 in the womb, giving the other 3 hope and a greater chance of survival. The 2nd thing I noticed was the lady bug (same image on both sides)……our nursery for the quads/triplets was a lady bug theme. Awesome how the bead designer was inspired down to so many details! The 3rd thing I noticed was that there were 3 remaining petals on the flower (same image on both sides)…..we were blessed with three thriving beauties at delivery! The last thing I noticed was that the beads primary color is “blue”. With all of our children, everyone has “assigned colors” for many things. (part of my organization, lol) My oldest sons color is “blue”. Before we got pregnant with the quadruplets/triplets, our oldest son (who was just 3 at the time) was the one who prayed specifically for 3 sisters every single night at bedtime. He asked for 1 sister for him, 1 sister for his little brother, and 1 sister for mommy & daddy to share!
We LOVE every single bead the girls earned while in the NICU and we are beyond thankful for recognizing and creating a 4th necklace for our 4th miracle that went to heaven, yet through that life gave so much hope. The hand picked bead on Hope’s necklace tells so much detail of our incredible journey. Thank you, Beads Of Courage, for giving of yourselves and recognizing, inspiring, and giving courage and hope to so many families!
I hope some of the attached pictures will help track down the bead artist and encourage them that there is so much significant meaning to their amazing talent and ability to create these beads. ~ Angela
To the amazing community of artists who support Beads of Courage, we are truly grateful for every moment that you spend making works of art to honor and acknowledge the COURAGE of so many children. Words simply cannot adequately express our gratitude. And to Angela, thank you for sharing your very personal story with us. The last picture of the girls wearing their beads and raising up Hope, says it all. If you recognize the bead in the picture, leave a comment, we would love to be able to share this story with the artist who created the bead.
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by CSmith on January 7, 2012
photo submitted by Gwinnett Medical Center
It’s hard to believe a year has already passed since Beads of Courage, Inc. launched our 1st NICU Program! We want to thank all of our member hospitals and expert NICU staff who have been instrumental in making this program possible for our smallest BOC Members! Thank you to our first NICU Member Hospitals:
Gwinnett Medical Center, Lawerenceville GA
Parkland Health & Hospital System, Dallas TX
Memorial Hospital for Children, Colorado Springs CO
St. Francis Children’s Hospital, Tulsa OK
Children’s Hospital Colorado NICU, Aurora CO
and coming soon, Phoenix Children’s Hospital, Phoenix AZ!
Beginning a new Beads of Courage® Program takes an incredible amount of time, energy and talents to come together. Each member hospital listed above has a BOC Coordinator who has spent countless hours of their time and expertise to ensure we are able to provide the best support for these young families. To our clinicians & BOC Coordinators- we are incredibly grateful!
From our Site Coordinator at our first Beads of Courage NICU Member Hospital:
We started the Beads of Courage Neonatal Intensive Care Unit program in December of 2010. We were the very first NICU to try the program. In our first year we enrolled over 200 sick and premature newborns. The program has been amazing. Since our patients cannot talk, the beads serve as a connection between the parents and the babies. We have had so many parents tell us that they are glad they have the beads to hold on to when they have to go home and leave their child behind in the hospital. Many have said that wearing their necklace of beads is what gives them strength through the hard times. Our bereaved parents are so thankful to have their strands of beads to remember the fight that their baby fought.
The bead strands are beautiful. What I did not expect to see with this program was the level of involvement that the fathers of the sick and premature infants have had. Quite a few of the fathers are intimidated by the size of their baby. Since a lot of our babies are as small as one pound, the fathers are sometimes reluctant to hold and touch their infants for fear of hurting them. The beads give them something to hold. Many of our patients fathers wear the beads proudly when they come to visit and are very involved in choosing special beads to represent both good and bad days for their premature baby.
I cannot say enough about this program. In addition to helping our families, it has helped us as providers to become closer to the parents of our patients. When it is time for a family to choose beads, we sit down with them and there is no rushing to give out beads. We talk to them about the beads they choose and why they choose certain colors and shapes. We remind them to choose beads to represent their feelings so that when they look at their strand, they will see just how far they have come. It is a time both providers and parents look forward to.
I am very happy to be a part of the first NICU program. I could only hope that one day all NICUs will have the same privilege we do and be able to have a Beads of Courage Program at their hospital as well. Beads of Courage® at Gwinnett Medical Center is Proudly Sponsored by Gwinnett Neonatology.
Suzanne Tillman, DNP CNNP
Gwinnett Medical Center
Lawrenceville, GA
Entry hallway into the NICU at Gwinnett Medical Center, honoring the COURAGEOUS story of each family!
It is our mission to provide arts-in-medicine programs allowing families to RECORD, TELL and OWN their stories of courage. It is thru the generous support of our donors who make new programming possible. For more information, www.beadsofcourage.org
