Jaylon Ingram, 6, shows off the collection of about 200 beads he has gathered since being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in May at the University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital.

Related articles:

Beads of Courage lead to a Bell of honor for an 'amazing' woman

Other articles by Jeff Commings:

Schools' move depends on a big 'if' Dodge/Flower group joins effort to keep city clean and beautiful New big-name stores yield excitement HS band may be Carnegie-bound Neighbors showcase anti-war signs Doolen, Pueblo students produce anti-meth ads Vets find service no job guarantee Lions of all stripes pull together in assisting area's less fortunate Swan-Skyline buildings get widely different reactions Conservation goes to school

Sales and Marketing
Ever-Ready Glass
Glass Sales Health Care
RLM Services, Inc.
Orthopedic Assistant-CMA Health Care
BENSON HOSPITAL
RESPIRATORY THERAPIST

Three years after starting the Beads of Courage program in her garage, Jean Baruch is now running the project out of a bigger building in Tucson, with a team of volunteers and requests from hospitals to join in the service for children with serious illnesses.

Beads of Courage is now handing out beads to 5,000 children in more than 35 hospitals in the U.S. and New Zealand.

Baruch, 32, a pediatric oncology nurse, said she'd always wanted the program to expand beyond Arizona but wasn't sure how long it would take.

"I have been working very diligently to make the necessary connections with people who understand the importance of helping kids who have gone through so much," Baruch said .

The program started in February 2003 with 300 cancer patients at Phoenix Children's Hospital.

Beads representing different cancer treatment procedures were collected by children at the end of each stage.

One bead, for example, would be given to a child who completed chemotherapy. Another child would get a bead for a successful surgery. Some bead collections are short; others can be dozens of feet long.

Jaylon Ingram, 6, is being treated for rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare form of cancer, at the University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital.

Since his diagnosis five months ago, he has collected about 200 beads. Most of those beads are black, which his mother, Candace Reed, said are given to him "every time he gets poked and prodded."

"To me, that's very symbolic of the pain he has to go through and the courage he has to face," Reed said.

Jaylon said his favorite bead is a blue one he got for his first day at school since the diagnosis. He's since shown off all his beads in school at show-and-tell time.

"They all think it's cool," Jaylon said.

Besides expanding outside Arizona to help cancer patients deal with their treatments, Beads of Courage is being piloted in hospitals across the country that specialize in other childhood ailments.

The Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, the first to perform a heart transplant on a child, is starting a program that would hand out beads to children who finish certain stages of the heart transplant process.

The Arkansas Children's Hospital has also started a program for children undergoing burn treatments, and a service for children with HIV is in the works, Baruch said.

Beads of Courage now works out of an "international distribution center" at 2612 E. Broadway, Baruch said, and the Kiwanis Club of Tucson Sunshine has helped pay for the program and offered volunteers for more than a year, said Kiwanis member Richard Misch.

"The thing that struck our Kiwanis club was how many children are in hospitals with serious illnesses," Misch said.

"You can't visualize a child going through that, but the beads tell a story."

The University of Arizona students in the Circle K International club volunteer their time to make kits that are sent to each hospital. Former club President Jennifer Phillips said she's been impressed with the way it's helped the kids go through a difficult time.

"It's not just a meaningless stage of their past," said Phillips, a UA junior. "They have something beautiful to come from it."

Jaylon's mother said her son will keep the beads close to him for the rest of his life.

"As he gets older, it will be a symbol of pride and will always be something he shows to future classmates and co-workers," Reed said.