bravery beads
The Bravery Bead programme is an Australian initiative that gives beads to children going through traumatic medical treatment, typically chemotherapy, to cheer them up after they have had a procedure, or to mark a milestone in their treatment. It has similar aims to the Beads of Courage programme (BoC) which operates world-wide. Bravery Beads and Beads of Courage are not to wear, but to collect. If you Google “Beads of Courage” up will come lots of photos of children swathed in row after row of the beads the poor little mites have received during years of treatment.
Some bravery beads are event specific. The children get a nude nut (bald head) when they lose their hair, an ambulance if they had an emergency, or a plane if they had to come a long way for treatment. The beads mark happy events too. A bell bead is given when they ring the bell, signifying that their treatment is complete, and a bead with a yellow loop on it, representing a ribbon, is collected at the one year milestone. Children also receive beads for non-medical events like birthdays, Christmas and Halloween. Whilst keeping within strict guidelines so the beads are safe for little hands, beadmakers are free to interpret the bead design in any way they want, and are encouraged to let their imagine run riot. We re-create many things in glass like animals, food items, fantasy creatures but also make simple beads in bright colours. I especially enjoy making beads that will appeal to boys, as it’s a little more challenging. Over the years, I have had fun making space scenes, rockets, submarines, monsters, alien heads, ghosts and mummies – and those are just the ones I can remember.
Making bravery beads is bitter sweet. I love making them, but I would much prefer that there were no sick children to make them for.
As well as the beads on the icons throughout this site, in the gallery below are pictures of just some of the hundreds of bravery beads I have made over the years. Many of the designs I developed from scratch, but there are a lot of ideas and tutorials for bravery beads available, and inevitably some of my beads are based on something I saw somewhere, but I always try to add something of my own. My thanks to Lesley G for the inspiration for the ambulance bead.
If you are viewing on a tablet or phone, you may prefer the look of the gallery when your device is held in landscape orientation. Click on a picture in the gallery to see an enlargement. Use the back arrow in the top left of the enlargement screen to return to this page and the gallery.
Scroll down past the gallery to “bravery bead stories” to read how bravery beads have impacted on the lives of some of the people who have received them.
bravery bead stories
Ashton's story
Ashton’s grandmother is a fellow beadmaker. He was born prematurely in November 2020, covered in bruises from head to toe and with what looked like tumours on his chest and head. His parents were warned that he might have AML, or congenital Acute Myeloid Leukaemia, a type of blood and marrow cancer so rare that it affects only about one in five million babies. After being rushed to Westmead Children’s hospital for further tests, the diagnosis was confirmed, and Ashton began the first of several rounds of chemotherapy at just a few days old. He responded well, and by April 2021, was in remission. However, in August 2021, his mother noticed a little lump on Ashton’s head. It grew, and more appeared, and soon his parents got the devastating news that the cancer was back. Ashton started undergoing treatment again, and towards the end of 2021, he received a bone marrow transplant from an anonymous donor.
In January 2022, after 304 days of treatment, Ashton rang the bell again and came home for good. Everyone has everything crossed that his “blood monsters”, as his big brother calls the cancer, are gone for good. Ashton has two strings of bravery beads, which his mother has been collecting for him to record the stages of his treatment – one for his first round of treatment, and a much larger one for his treatment since relapse. Now that he is older, Ashton enjoys playing with them.
Anabella's story
Anabella’s mother is a friend of a friend. When I heard of Anabella’s cancer diagnosis, as I knew her treating hospital was not part of the bravery bead programme, I thought it would be nice to make some especially for her. I would give Anabella’s mother about ten beads at a time, Anabella would decide which beads were for nasty procedures and which were for “normal” things like injections, and then the beads would be put away. After each treatment, Anabella chose a bead from the appropriate category to add to her collection. It was particularly rewarding to see photos of Anabella with her beads, and to know that in some way they were helping her get through the treatment.
One of the most touching moments was when I was with my friend and she got a text from Anabella. It said “Aunty R, I have to have a needle into my back today. Do you think that is bad enough for the penguin bead?” I still tear up when I think of that. Anabella’s mother recently told me of the time that Anabella had asked if she could have two of the special beads instead of one, as it had been a really hard day for her.
Anabella has been cancer free for some years now, but her mother says she cherishes her beads and still remembers what treatment she got each special bead for. Her beads are in a display case which is not big enough to hold them all, so she rearranges them occasionally so that every bead gets a turn at being on show.
Anabella's story
Anabella’s mother is a friend of a friend. When I heard of Anabella’s cancer diagnosis, as I knew her treating hospital was not part of the bravery bead programme, I thought it would be nice to make some especially for her. I would give Anabella’s mother about ten beads at a time, Anabella would decide which beads were for nasty procedures and which were for “normal” things like injections, and then the beads would be put away. After each treatment, Anabella chose a bead from the appropriate category to add to her collection. It was particularly rewarding to see photos of Anabella with her beads, and to know that in some way they were helping her get through the treatment.
One of the most touching moments was when I was with my friend and she got a text from Anabella. It said “Aunty R, I have to have a needle into my back today. Do you think that is bad enough for the penguin bead?” I still tear up when I think of that. Anabella’s mother recently told me of the time that Anabella had asked if she could have two of the special beads instead of one, as it had been a really hard day for her.
Anabella has been cancer free for some years now, but her mother says she cherishes her beads and still remembers what treatment she got each special bead for. Her beads are in a display case which is not big enough to hold them all, so she rearranges them occasionally so that every bead gets a turn at being on show.
Zoe's story
Zoe was born extremely prematurely, “weighing less than a bag of sugar” as her mother says. From birth, Zoe has had multiple orthopaedic surgeries, and in the years since her mother and I became friends, I have made Zoe a bead to mark each major surgery. Usually I turn them into a necklace because she likes to wear them. If any kid deserves bravery beads, it’s Zoe. She is one tough, positive cookie. A few years ago, less than a week after major surgery on both her legs, she was putting weight on them, terrorising the cat with her wheelchair, and pestering her mother to allow her to go back at school the following week.
Zoe gets to choose what she would like me to make, though when she has suggested something very fanciful, I have had to say “not going to happen”. Once, when she was being wheeling into the theatre before a really major surgery, she started calling for her mother in an urgent way. You can imagine how her poor mother felt. She went to the trolley, took her hand and asked what was wrong, to which Zoe replied “I forgot to tell Irene I would like a cat bead”.
Zoe is a teenager now, and before her last, and hopefully final surgery, I asked if she wanted a bravery bead, fully expecting that she might think she is a bit old for one but no, she asked for something red and sparkly, so I made her a red heart with lots of golden flakes.
other bravery beads
I am a firm believer that it isn’t just children who should get bravery beads. Sometimes adults also need something that acknowledges that they are, or have been, going through a difficult time. I try to make the design of beads relevant to the person and/or their situation. These are some of the bravery beads I have made for adults.
Reinhard's story
Some years ago, I had the idea for using beads as a visual way of recording the progress of cancer treatment, and though I have made collections for several friends, I never thought I would be making one for my husband.
There are two glass containers, and bead for every day of treatment. At the start of treatment, the jar on the left holds all the beads, and the jar on the right is empty. Every day of treatment, a bead is taken from the left hand jar and put into the right hand one. For Reinhard, we refined it even further. He had big or more complex beads for Mondays when there was both chemo and radiation, “normal” beads for Tuesday to Friday which were radiation days, and small ones for the weekend when technically he didn’t have treatment, but still had to get blood tests etc. in preparation for the week ahead. Till about halfway, he was a bit “take it or leave it” about his bead collection, but once the levels of the jars were drawing even, he was right into it. Moving a bead was often the first thing he did in the morning and he frequently commented on how full the right hand jar was getting. In the photo, he has just put the last bead into the right hand jar – treatment was over!
My friends usually keep their full jar as a happy, decorative reminder of coming out of the other end, but Reinhard didn’t want that. He wanted his beads to go to the children’s hospital as part of the bravery bead programme. However, so that he had something tangible, he chose his three favourites which I mounted on a special bead-able pen.
Reinhard's story
Some years ago, I had the idea for using beads as a visual way of recording the progress of cancer treatment, and though I have made collections for several friends, I never thought I would be making one for my husband. There are two glass containers, and bead for every day of treatment. At the start of treatment, the jar on the left holds all the beads, and the jar on the right is empty. Every day of treatment, a bead is taken from the left hand jar and put into the right hand one.
For Reinhard, we refined it even further. He had big or more complex beads for Mondays when there was both chemo and radiation, “normal” beads for Tuesday to Friday which were radiation days, and small ones for the weekend when technically he didn’t have treatment, but still had to get blood tests etc. in preparation for the week ahead. Till about halfway, he was a bit “take it or leave it” about his bead collection, but once the levels of the jars were drawing even, he was right into it. Moving a bead was often the first thing he did in the morning and he frequently commented on how full the right hand jar was getting. In the photo, he has just put the last bead into the right hand jar – treatment was over!
My friends usually keep their full jar as a happy, decorative souvenir of coming out of the other end, but Reinhard didn’t want that. He wanted his beads to go to the children’s hospital as part of the bravery bead programme. However, so that he had something tangible, he chose his three favourites which I mounted on a special bead-able pen.
Though a great deal of bravery was required, this bead is more a celebration bead. After going through eight rounds of IVF, two ectopic pregancies, losing twin boys who were born too early to survive, and numerous procedures culminating in a hysterectomy, my friend and her husband had twins via a surrogate. This bead commemorates the safe arrival of their beautiful boy and girl, hence the pink and blue. The swirls, spikes and silver dots represent the highs and lows and emotional turmoil they experienced along the way
These two beads were given to a dear friend to mark colon and spinal surgeries. I think it is obvious which is for which. It is impossible to “unsee” the colon bead, isn’t it? They certainly put a smile on her face at a difficult time, especially the colon bead, which was the purpose of the exercise.
A friend’s wife suffers with depression, and I made this bead for her to represent her struggles. The white, ivory and black bands symbolise good, OK and bad days. Though the pink glass chips (called frit) are the same throughout, the colour changes on the different backgrounds, just as depression can change the way a situation is perceived.
