We went to spend some time discussing the Treasure Bead program which was launched at the Stollery Children's Hospital for the "heart kids" in January of 2011 by the Treasure Life Foundation. This foundation was formed as a legacy to honor the memory of my great nephew Evan who passed away from Congenital Heart disease in 2006.
To start, each child is given a string with a Treasure Life anchor bead symbolizing the start of their journey. Then a "Child Life" bead is added which represents the many wonderful people who help the kids at the hospital. After this it is a personal journey with each bead representing a procedure that the child has gone through. It could be a needle, an x-ray, an echocardiogram, surgery and of course so many more I can't even name..the kids and parents remember it all.
Many of the children hadn't started their bead chains so they were extremely excited to be able to document their personal journey with their heart. It brought so much joy to my heart to talk to the families and to see the love and joy they felt doing this.
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| Procedure beads...a few of many. |
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| These beads were her journey! |
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| Me and my sister. |
It was a wonderful day that I got to spend with my sister and with families who touched my heart!
To learn more about the Treasure Life Foundation please visit: http://www.treasurelife.ca/
and the Children's Heart Society: http://www.childrensheart.org/
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