When Everleigh was just six days old, her family received news no parent is ever prepared for—a serious medical diagnosis that would require immediate and ongoing hospitalization. In her first year of life, Everleigh faced ten hospital stays, numerous specialist visits, and a host of challenges far beyond what her family could have imagined.
Amid the uncertainty, one constant brought comfort and hope: the dedicated team at Carolina Caring’s Cardinal Kids program. From the very beginning, they provided compassionate pediatric hospice care, partnering closely with Everleigh’s medical specialists and offering an essential layer of social, emotional, and physical support. Between hospital visits, home care, and the nonstop demands of daily life, the family had much to manage—but they were never alone.
At one of her first hospital stays, a child life specialist introduced the family to the Beads of Courage® Program. This international program, established by Dr. Jean Gribbon, began as a meaningful way to support hospitalized children as they battled cancer. Now, more than twenty years later, children like Everleigh are given Beads of Courage by hospitals or specialized care teams who address the child’s serious illness. Each bead honors the child’s courage and represents one step in their medical journey.
When compared to the big picture of serious illness care, a string of beads might seem insignificant; but for patients and families of the Cardinal Kids program, each bead is a badge of honor.
“As we watched her strand of beads grow longer and longer, we realized this was a wonderful way of reflecting on her medical journey and highlighting her strength throughout it all,” says Everleigh’s mother. “Everleigh is the strongest little girl we know, and we are thankful that Beads of Courage allows us to document and share her strength with others. “
“Beads of Courage tells the story of the child’s diagnosis from the start—and tracks every step in between,” shares Jennifer Long, LCSW, Social Worker & Beads of Courage Ambassador, Carolina Caring. Jennifer advocated to include this beautiful program among our existing support services for pediatric hospice patients. Her vision, combined with generous grants provided by Corning, Inc., helped bring the Beads of Courage® Program to Cardinal Kids in 2023.
Whether it’s symbolizing the brave first step after a child’s medical diagnosis or celebrating a personal milestone, Beads of Courage marks memories in a way that can feel deeply personal and healing. There are beads to mark visits from specialists, nurses, chaplains, social workers; beads to honor a child’s bravery during a hospitalization; and beads to celebrate special occasions, such as birthdays and holidays.
“When you see a whole string of beads covering a family’s wall, it is easier to recognize the magnitude of what that child has been through as they manage life with a serious illness,” Jennifer shares.
Jennifer’s personal connection to Beads of Courage comes from her son Zack, who was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma at just 15 years old. This rare form of cancer, which develops in soft tissues and muscles, changed Zack’s life overnight. Rather than spending his sophomore and junior years of high school playing on the baseball team and gearing up for college applications, Zack had been thrust into the world of scans, surgeries, and hospitalizations. He missed out on many of the typical milestones that friends his age shared.
Today, four years after his diagnosis, Zack is a proud cancer survivor. He shares that Beads of Courage helped him keep track of his own medical milestones—and discover that each step has shaped him into a strong, resilient young man who continues to inspire those around him.
“My strand of beads is a stark reminder of what I went through at every stage of my cancer journey,” he says. “And, more importantly, it shows what I have overcome and the strength that I possess inside myself.”
The strand of beads also represents part of the emotional and personal struggles the family endured through Zack’s medical journey. It is a strong reminder that medical trauma doesn’t just happen to the child; it impacts the entire family. When Jennifer, Zack, and the rest of the Long family look at the beads, they are reminded of the courage that each one of them had to summon during the most difficult time of their lives.
Acknowledging the profound impact that serious illness has on the entire family, Jennifer and the Cardinal Kids team decided to create opportunities for brothers and sisters of patients to receive their own Beads of Courage.
For twin sisters Harper and Emma, these beads are a source of joy. Harper, a patient of Cardinal Kids, was born with a rare genetic disorder that requires lifelong support from her hospice care team and her family, including her sweet sister Emma.
Each time her social worker makes a visit, Harper loves to watch Emma string the new beads on her necklace. Emma loves helping Harper so much, the Cardinal Kids team decided to give Emma a Beads of Courage® Sibling Program necklace. By having her own special strand of beads, Emma is reminded of how much she cares about Harper and what her sister lives through.
“It is so special that Cardinal Kids has the ability to include Emma in the care that Harper receives,” says the twins’ mother. “It is extraordinary to see the way that artists use their expertise to create these very special beads. Just a bead can brighten a child’s day after a grueling treatment or hospital stay; our family loves that the necklaces provide emotional support and a ray of hope for these children.”
Every strand tells a story. And every story holds a meaning—not just in the present moment, but also when a child is dearly missed.
“When Jennifer first showed us the Beads of Courage® Program, I had no idea how meaningful it would become,” says the mother of precious Cardinal Kids patient, Courtney. Courtney’s Beads of Courage collection is one way that her family continues to celebrate her life and the courage that defined it.
“We now have something tangible to hold on to in remembrance of the last year of Courtney’s life,” her mother adds. “I only wish we had been introduced to Beads of Courage earlier.”
The significance of legacy also resonates with the family of Cardinal Kids patient Gabriel. After Gabriel passed at the age of six, his mother decided to share the legacy of his life by giving Beads of Courage to close friends and family, allowing them to carry a piece of Gabriel’s courage.
“I know a lot of people think it’s just a bead,” Gabriel’s mother says, “but it’s a memory. It means so much to me because it helped me to understand everything that my son had to go through when he was in the hospital.”
The same can be true for any child in hospice care. Beads of Courage is more than a symbol—it is a tangible promise that no milestone will go unnoticed, no act of courage will go unrecognized, and that no family will walk this path alone.
Thanks to the generosity of donors and the dedication of the Cardinal Kids care teams, we can ensure that each child receives access to the compassionate hospice and palliative care they need. If you’d like to learn more about the services provided through Carolina Caring Cardinal Kids or how to support our mission of helping children experience joy despite their serious illness, please visit carolinacaring.org/cardinalkids/ or call 828.466.0466.
Carolina Caring Cardinal Kids is proud to provide the BEADS OF COURAGE® Program. The Program is a program of Beads of Courage, Inc. dba Center for Arts in Nursing, whose mission is to provide innovative Arts-in-Medicine programs for children coping with serious illness, their families, and the clinicians who care for them. BEADS OF COURAGE® is a federally registered trademark of Beads of Courage, Inc., and is used under license. For more information on BEADS OF COURAGE®, visit: www.beadsofcourage.org
