Nicole | Medical Student | Disability Advocate

I’ve been meaning to make a post about @beadsofcourage for a while now. BOC is a hospital program that promotes narrative medicine—meaning, it helps patients tell their health story with something tangible, in this case, beads. I originally thought the program was only for little kids, but I learned they have a whole program for chronic illnesses and many of my friends here on instagram have gotten them as well.

They have a NICU program which I put together for my adorable nephews so they could see what they went through and how they overcame it!

Finally, they have a cancer program. The reason I first thought about doing the BOC program was because my best friend @ella_barna had done them and it honestly just reminded me of her. When I reached out to thank BOC for my nephews’ beads I also mentioned how Ella loved hers. They sent me a butterfly bead to honor her memory and I’ve put it at the end of my beads as a reminder of her strength and courage that’s been with me all these years.

Is it a program for children? Yes. But it is also a program for teens/YAs. These beads are very meaningful and symbolic to me. In the beginning, they gave me something to look forward to after all the pokes, IVs, hospital visits, etc. Now it’s hung up in my room as a way of reminding me how far I’ve come.
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So thank you to @beadsofcourage for helping me and Tyler, and Lucas, and Ella, and so many others have this beautiful representation of quite difficult health issues. And thank you Ella, for always being here for me still, even after you’ve gone. I miss you 💜🦄🌸🐞

A note from Beads of Courage: When you donate to our holiday appeal, you help make every day brighter for children and teens coping with serious illness. These are never just little beads. Thank you for making a difference for these courageous kids today!