Bravery beads for Glasgow sick kids get charity backing

Jenny McCreary of Sew Confident. Picture: Contributed

A SCOTTISH businesswoman with an army of volunteers is helping to cheer children undergoing major treatment at a Scottish hospital.

When children in the Schiehallion or cardiology wards at Glasgow Children’s Hospital undergo treatment, they receive a bead, known as a Bead of Courage, to show how brave they’ve been.

The initiative has been so popular, the children’s hospital charity recently appealed for volunteers to help them make “bead bags” for their young patients.

And city businesswoman Jenny McCreary, who runs her own firm Sew Confident, jumped on board to help out.

She said: “The beads are used as meaningful symbols of courage that commemorate different milestones such as blood transfusions, bone marrow transplants, hospital stays, chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments.

“Their beads build up over time into a unique record of what they have been through. Some days are really tough for these kids. The beads are used for encouragement and say to everyone ‘that was tough, but I did it’.

“As they progress through their hospital journey they may collect many hundreds of beads. The beads are stored in bead bags.”

At Sew Confident Jenny said they have the machines, the people and the skill to make loads of these little drawstrings bags that brighten up a child’s day.