This Holiday Season, Say YES to Hope!

Dear Friend,

HOPE.

It’s what the holiday season is all about.

At Beads of Courage, hope is a mainstay. For children like Noah and his family, hope is everything.

Six-year-old Noah is facing his second difficult battle with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia. He thought he had the battle won in 2018. But in October of this year, his family received the devastating news that he had relapsed.

Noah’s fight is very real. He is in constant pain. He battles fevers and exhaustion. His skin is peeling. He’s covered with bruises. He can’t eat. He can’t sleep.

“Cancer is a bad word,” Noah says. “I can’t say it right now because I am a little kid. But when I grow up, I am going to call cancer that bad word.”

On every step of Noah’s courageous journey – his second such journey in three years – Beads of Courage is there. For every test, treatment and procedure – the lumbar punctures, the platelet transfusions, the nights spent in the hospital and so much more – there is a bead.

A bead to lift his spirits. A bead to honor his courage. A bead to give him hope.

2,800 beads in all. And counting.

“Noah’s beads help him have hope,” his mom Martha says. “They remind him he can do hard things. They remind him how far he has come.”

Hope has been described as a passion for the possible. At Beads of Courage, we are passionate about helping kids coping with serious illness. And we know what is possible when kids like Noah receive beads to encourage them to stay strong and keep on fighting.

We know because we have seen it every day for the past 18 years. Beads given at the bedside are spirit-lifting, which can be lifesaving in the moment.

This year alone, Beads of Courage will give out more than 15 million beads to the brave children we help in 400 children’s hospitals around the world. Every bead tells a unique story of courage, honor, and hope for a child coping with cancer or another serious illness.

This holiday season, I invite you to be part of our mission of hope and healing. Say yes to making a difference in the lives of courageous kids like Noah and more than 60,000 others we support.

Say yes to hope.

Please visit our website at www.beadsofcourage.org and click on the SAY YES TO HOPE campaign, or send your donation using the remit card attached.

Thank you for making a difference through your compassion and generosity. May the holiday spirit be with you and your family today and throughout the New Year.

With gratitude, 

Jean Gribbon, PhD, RN

Founder and Executive Director

PS – Donate $250 or more to our holiday appeal and we will honor you with a beautiful artist-made glass bead on ASPIRE: A SPIRE OF HOPE. 

The Aspire sculpture at Beads of Courage headquarters is a visible and tangible manifestation of the courage of our members and an enduring tribute to their strength and resilience. 

Read more about Aspire here!