What is Beading for brain cancer?
Beading for Brain Cancer is a small bracelet business that gives all their profits to brain cancer research at Mass General Hospital. It was created in 2009 by Elana Sargent, who was nine years old at the time, with hopes of helping to find a cure for this type of cancer. Elana's father had been diagnosed with glioblastoma, a severe form of brain cancer. Being so young and afraid for both her and her father's future, she wanted to do whatever she could to contribute to her father's health. With the help of her mother, Elana found some beads she liked and strung up a couple of these bracelets, being sure to include gorgeous grey ones, as that is the representative color of brain cancer. She began by selling the bracelets for $10 to family and close friends, but the business soon took off. As other people around town heard about these bracelets and the great cause they were going towards, orders poured in. By the following year, Elana and her bracelets had raised $1,000, mostly by the local community in support of the Sargent family and their personal battle with cancer. This first sum was donated to Lahey Clinic in Massachusetts where Elana's father was being treated at the time. Over the next couple years, Elana built hundreds of more bracelets with lots of help from her friends, classmates, and community.  Within a couple of years, Elana's bracelets filled the wrists of everyone around town, with additional orders sent all over the US and a couple to other countries as well. Since then, many $1,000 donations have been given to both Lahey Clinic and Mass General.
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When Elana's father was first diagnosed with a brain tumor, her mother had trouble finding jewelry online to support this particular cancer, so she is now expanding her bracelet business online to try to reach as many people as possible. All in hopes that families and patients battling this cancer are able to find these beautiful bracelets, help spread awareness for this disease, and raise money to aid in one day finding the cure. 

Who inspired this project?



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Elana's father, Jack Sargent, was the inspiration to begin Beading for Brain Cancer. Jack was an amazing husband and father and a total family man. He supported his children in everything they did and would always make time for them from coaching their many teams to volunteering in their classrooms to playing with them after long work days. Jack lived in Massachusetts his whole life and graduated from UMass Amherst with a degree in mechanical engineering. He worked at Raytheon for many years in that profession.
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In August, 2009, while on a family vacation in Washington D.C., Jack ended up at the hospital where they discovered the tumor in his brain. Jack was driven back to Massachusetts where he was cared for at Lahey Clinic and diagnosed with Stage IV brain cancer. Jack received many treatments over the next year and a half at Lahey and Mass General, but unfortunately suffered a relapse. Over the course of Jack's treatments, he became very sick and could no longer be the family man he had once been. All Elana wanted was for her father to get better so he could get back to doing all the things they used to do. By making these bracelets and raising money, she hoped that would do the trick.
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Jack struggled after his relapse and sadly left behind his wife of 13 years and two children, Jack age 12 and Elana age 10. His loss was mourned by many, as he left a huge impact on everyone he met. He is still remembered and cherished by his family everyday. These bracelets are still being made now that he is gone in the hopes that no one has to suffer from this disease again or watch the ones they love suffer and deteriorate right before their eyes.

John Sargent,  April 12, 1958 - April 24, 2011



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What is glioblastoma?

Glioblastoma, also known as glioblastoma multiform (GBM), is a type of tumor that falls under astrocytomas, meaning that the affected cells are astrocytes (or their precursor cells) in either the brain or spinal cord. Astrocytes outnumber neurons and support their function and are, therefore, a very important part of healthy nervous system function.

When a mutation in the DNA within these cells occurs, a tumor may form. Research has shown that this alteration in specific proteins from DNA mutation encourages an increase in cell division and invasion into healthy tissue, among other detrimental effects, that lead to tumor growth and metastasis. The cells have access to neural pathways within the brain that allows them to easily migrate to new locations and build more tumors. The cell’s ability to do this is what makes the tumors so difficult to remove because they can easily spread throughout the brain.

Glioblastoma is a Grade IV cancer that is not easy to treat, with much resistance to chemotherapy and radiation and currently no real cure. An average of 15,000 people are diagnosed each year with an average survival of only 14 months post-diagnosis. Because this tumor is in the brain, the patient will face many neurological side effects that can be very defeating and change the person significantly. This can also make taking care of someone with glioblastoma very challenging.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2799634/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4380124/
https://www.pennmedicine.org/updates/blogs/neuroscience-blog/2018/november/the-life-of-a-brain-tumor-how-does-glioblastoma-grow