Monday, October 5, 2009

Journey Bead Program Helps Kids with Cancer

Losing a child is every parent's worst nightmare. But two parents have found the strength to help other children fighting cancer.

After the death of their son John Eric from a cancer called neuroblastoma, Jay and Alisha Bartels created the The JEB Foundation to aide families with children receiving treatment at the Herman & Walter Samuelson's Children's Hospital at Sinai, specifically the Hematology/Oncology Department. The foundation provides a Journey Bead program to provide encouragement and inspiration to children. Each bead has a meaning, for example the child receives a red heart after a blood transfusion.

In a recent WBAL news story, Sinai social worker Mary Bohlen said the program allows children a way to document their strength.

"It's a way to visually see 'wow, look what I have done; look what I'm surviving," she said.

You can learn more about the JEB Foundation and Journey Bead Program by clicking here. For more information about the Children's Hospital, call 410-601-WELL (9355).

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