Beads of Courage

I wanted to take a minute to share something with you. Many people think I am "crazy" for doing Team in Training...not only for the long mileage, but mainly for the great amount of fundraising I commit myself to. I wanted to give you a perfect example of why.

There is a little boy named Austin Moreno who is one of our Honored Heroes, and also the son of Kim Moreno, one of our Mentors. Austin is the "friend's child" that I mentioned in my fundraising letter (for those of you who have received and read it). He was diagnosed with Leukemia at about the same age Parker is now, maybe even a few months younger. He is now an amazing 4 year old and participates in a program named Beads of Courage.

Beads of Courage is a unique program designed to honor the challenging journey children take while experiencing cancer and related treatments. Through the program, the collection of 'Beads of Courage' symbolize not only courage, but also serves to honor milestones achieved along each unique treatment path. Each individual bead he receives has special significance about his treatment. Below is the guide to the beads:

Beige - A Bone Marrow Biopsy/Aspiration
White - A course of Chemotherapy
Orange - Central Line/port insertion or removal
Blue - Clinic Visit
Magenta - Emergency/Ambulance/Unusual Occurrence
Brown - Hair loss/thinning
Lime - Isolation/fever/neutropenia
Tortoise- Lumbar Puncture
Purple - Morphine/Dopamine/PCA Infusion
Silver/Black - Pokes (IV starts, Blood Draws, IM Injections, Port Access)
Glow in the Dark - Radiation treatment
Light Green - Test/Scans (EKG, ECG, MRI, CT, Bone Scan)
Red - Transfusions
Aqua - tube Insertion (Catheter, Chest)
Yellow - Overnight at Hospital/ Inpatient Admission
Dark Green - Stem Cell Harvest/Dialysis/TPN
Silver - Surgery & Dressing Change
Square Heart - Transfer to PICU

Now check out this picture of Austin...

THIS is why I do this.