Beads Of Courage Give Sick Children Hope

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Beads of Courage is a worldwide charity helping hospitalized children tell their story.

"They can get a star bead if they're sleeping overnight in the ICU area," Beth Moneck, a child life specialist, said.

"They get a yellow bead if they're sleeping overnight on a regular floor. Every needle poke that a child gets they get a black bead.

"It's almost like a little medal for each little thing they do, representing their hope and strength and courage."

Beads tell the tale of Daniel Bradmon's difficult year.

"Grandmothers and aunts and other ones have worn them to help remember him and remember all the things he's been going through," Lynn Bradmon, Daniel's mother, said.

Maddy Rice, 13, designed the Pittsburgh Bead. It has three rivers on one side and our sports teams on the other.

Her idea came alive with the help of her instructor at the Pittsburgh Glass Center. Pittsburgh beads are the very first to honor a specific city.

"I've always been interested in art and medical science and I want to be a doctor when I grow up," she said. "So it was really cool at first just to find out about the project that the two fields could come together."

Garrison McDaniel-Davis added the bead to his collection.

The beads on his IV have traveled around the world – literally. They blasted into outer space and returned on the space shuttle Atlantis.

Beads of courage help patients make it through.

"I've been in the hospital having a hard time, but when I got the bead of courage, I knew that I could face it," he said.

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