SickKids Foundation
525 University Ave., Suite 835 M5G 2L3 Toronto, ON, Canada

Due to complications during delivery, Anthony was born blue. He lost oxygen to his brain for 10 minutes and had no heartbeat when he was delivered. When we were waiting for the ambulance to bring him to SickKids, it was just the two of us, says Anthony’s grandfather, Nino. I took his little hand as he lay in the incubator and whispered to him, ‘you need to fight the fight of your life, and I will fight just as hard for you. And we will see each other soon. I won’t give up ... so you can’t either.’ Anthony is now a healthy 18-month-old and has shown no long term side effects. All of Anthony’s Bravery Beads are special to us, as they represent how much he overcame. The Discharge Bead however, is our favourite, because in a situation like ours you aren’t really sure what tomorrow will bring, and when or if your baby will ever leave the hospital. Anthony fought the toughest fight, Dr. Tomlinson and his team gave us the gift of life, and the gift of going home. Anthony's family raised over $12,500 at SickKids GetLoud & have started a community event called Strikes for Tikes to fundraise for SickKids. We are so grateful for their support. #SickKidsVS #OneMillionStrong

Adam McClare co-founded Summit For SickKids in 2010, inspired to raise funds for the SickKids Oncology Department and Cancer Genetics Research Program. To date, they have raised over $210,000 for SickKids by scaling mountains around the world. In a turn of events, in 2019 Adam needed SickKids, when his 5-year-old daughter Harper sustained severe third-degree burns to her legs from a faulty hot water bottle. Harper has collected Bravery Beads, including 12 Burn Dressing Cha...nge Beadsone of the most painful parts of her journey at SickKids. Each bead was a badge of honour that Harper quickly took pride in. As parents, we felt like we were watching our daughter be tortured day in and day out with painful bandage changes, needles, pic lines, IVs, diaper changes and breathing tubes. But those beads made her smile, and gave her a sense of confidence we didn't think was possible. #SickKidsVS #OneMillionStrong See more

Jacob was diagnosed with Wilms Tumour (kidney cancer) when he was three years old. I started coming to the hospital every week for chemotherapy. I had lots of needles, chemo made me feel really yucky. I received my first Bravery Bead necklace right after my first surgery to remove my left kidney & tumour. It had my name spelled with beads, which I loved. Jacob is now eight years cancer free. His family started the Journey for Jacob Tribute Fund when he was diagnosed, and have raised over $280,000 (wow!) for Wilms Tumour research. Thank you Jacob, and the Middleton family, for your incredible support of SickKids. Read more here: www.sickkidsdonations.com/registrant/EventHome.aspx

Not all heroes wear capes. Some wear ugly sweaters. Thank you to all of our generous donors for raising more than $600,000 for SickKids, including a $100,000 donation from Samsung. Special shout out to our bestie Ryan Reynolds, who knew ugly could feel so good?! And to our friend Auston Matthews, thanks for being a great sport! #HelpRyanHelpSickKids #SweaterLove #SickKidsVS

One gift. Triple the impact. Today, one-time donations will be triple matched, including a match by Levine Financial Group*. Don’t miss out on your chance to make a difference and give kids like Nathan more to smile about this holiday season. Click here to get started: www.sickkidsfoundation.com #SickKidsVS

#GivingTuesday is next Tuesday, December 1st. This year, funds raised support the Child Life program at SickKids. Child Life specialists use therapeutic play to promote a positive hospital experience for children. We bring play to patients’ bedsides, says Natalie, a Child Life specialist at SickKids. We celebrate first birthdays and sweet sixteens. We show patients what an MRI is, teach them how to do a nose swab, use candy to help them learn to swallow pills. We play for ...them if they are not strong enough. Natalie knows first-hand what patients need. 25 years ago, she was a patient herself at SickKids, diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, when she was just 11 years old. Child Life specialists make the hospital an easier place to be, a less scary place to be, she says. Join them in giving childhood back. Donate: bit.ly/379idnf

It might not look like Krish has collected a lot of Bravery Beads. But he has six particularly precious ones, a Transplant Bravery Bead for each of the six donor organs he received during a 19-hour surgery when he was eight years old. Kidney, liver, pancreas, stomach, small bowel, large bowel. It was one of the most complex transplant surgeries ever done at SickKids. Krish was born with Hirschsprung’s disease, but now he’s a healthy and thriving 13-year-old who loves DJ’ing, the Raptors, and grade 8. #SickKidsVS #OneMillionStrong

Ryan isn’t just facing his fearhe’s eating it. That fear is peanuts, to which he’s severely allergic, and has avoided almost all his life. But now, as part of a carefully supervised SickKids trial, Ryan eats a tiny bit of peanut powder each night to build up a tolerance. The goal? To protect himself from accidental exposure, so he doesn’t have to live in fear of food. This month, every jar of KRAFT Peanut Butter supports kids with food allergies. For every jar of Kraft Pean...ut Butter sold in Ontario, 10 cents will be donated to the SickKids fight against food allergy and anaphylaxis, up to $100,000. Thank you for your ongoing support! Join us in the fight against food allergy: www.fundthefight.ca/foodallergies Please note: Ryan is part of a SickKids trial. If you are peanut allergic, please do not try doing this without the careful supervision of an experienced doctor.

These are all of Naya’s beads, says her mom Stephanie, collected throughout her 14+ month stay at SickKids from the day she was born. We wanted to take photos of Naya with her Bravery Beads to show how strong she was & how much she overcame. She may be too young to remember what she endured to be here today, however when she is old enough, these beads will help her understand. Click through to see more photos of the family, including Frank, who we featured in #DadStrong, our 2017 Father’s Day campaign. Look closely and you’ll see his #SickKidsVS tattoo, I never want to forget Naya’s first home. SickKids will always be part of our story. #OneMillionStrong

Coming to SickKids? On the day of your visit, complete an online COVID-19 self-screening form before arriving to get through our screening process as smoothly as possible. A form must be completed for the patient and anyone coming to SickKids with the patient. https://covidscreening.sickkids.ca/

These are Jadyn’s Radiation Bravery Beads. Jadyn passed away in 2018 at the age of 15. She had childhood Ependymoma, a type of brain cancer. Jadyn earned 123 Radiation Bravery Beadsone for every treatment. They were her favourite beads because they glow in the dark, says her mom, Christie. I will be sending them to SickKids Foundation so that they will be part of the Monument to the Brave. I know Jadyn would be thrilled to be part of this. Bereaved parents and siblings who wish to contribute beads to the Monument to the Brave in honour of their loved one can visit: http://donateyourbravery.ca/ for more information.

Life has been a whirlwind for Isabelle’s family since April. While everyone has been adapting to living in a pandemic, Isabelle and her parents Michal and Jacqueline have been coping with her cancer diagnosis. Through this difficult time, Isabelle’s beads are becoming a monument to her bravery. She has a golden heart bead for a PICC line insertion. She has 30 glow-in-the-dark beads for radiation sessions. She has an iridescent heart for her 4th birthday, Wow Bravery Beads fo...r MRIs, and a wooden face bead for losing her hair. There will be many more beads to comeIsabelle has diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), an aggressive childhood brain tumour for which there is no known treatment. Sometimes, the Bravery Beads that children earn are more for the parents than for the patient. They provide a meaningful keepsake for families, to remember the journey their child went through. #SickKidsVS #OneMillionStrong

Calling everyone who loves Halloween and SickKids: Be a part of our extra spooky Pumpkin Carvers Crew. We’re asking fans of the eerie celebration to howl for SickKids this Halloween howl for donations, that is! We have a treat bag full of fun, safe ways to do this on October 31. We’re giving them away right here, along with downloadable fundraising tools: fundthefight.ca/pumpkincarvers. Remember to tag us when posting pics of your pumpkins and costumes!

Attention SickKids Lottery fans! The SickKids Lottery VIP Deadline is tomorrow at midnight! Buy your tickets now to make sure you are entered for the chance to win the VIP prizes of 5 x $10,000. Your ticket also enters you in all of our upcoming draws click through the below photos to see some of the other prizes on offer! You can also play our 50/50 draw with an estimated jackpot of over $500,000! Help build a new SickKids for patients like Avaorder your tickets today: https://sickkidslottery.ca/ LL#12210

"Bravery Beads gave us this incredible feeling that we were not alone. We see all these other children with Bravery Beads and it’s like we’re all there, we’re all in the same story, but each chapter is a little different. Find out what the Bravery Bead program means to SickKids patients Owen, Grace and their families: www.thestar.com/sponsored_sectio//a-bead-for-bravery-.html #SickKidsVS #OneMillionStrong

Hugh Jackman vs. Ryan Reynolds: The Feud is on at Sam's Club. Winner gets bragging rights. Both get a donation to their preferred charity from Sam's Club. #RyanReynolds gets our votewhose side are you on?

A hospital can be scary when you are little, especially if you are alone. When patients at SickKids go into isolation as part of their treatment, they earn an Isolation Bravery Bead like this one-of-a-kind installationthat we unveiled today at Vaughan Mills.

The SickKids Lottery is back with your best chance to win in Ontario. With 7 new Grand Prizes, tickets aren’t expected to last long. Click through the below photos to see an exciting grand prize, the 2020 Tesla Model 3! Play our Cash Calendar, there are winners every day in March, or play our 50/50 draw. The 50/50 draw prize could grow to over $500,000! Help build a new SickKidsorder your tickets today. www.sickkidslottery.ca/ SKLL#12210, 50/50LL#12209, CalendarLL#12211

Friend of SickKids Anupa King visited our Test, Scan & Surgery Bravery Beads at SickKids. The King family has had the pleasure of being a part of the SickKids family for over 15 years and counting. This year we get to work very close with them on their #OneMillIonStrong campaign, a campaign that celebrates one million patients past & present who have collectively earned more than one million Bravery Beads. #SickKidsVS #OneMillionStrong Repost: Anupa King

This is David. On this date, 12 years ago, David was in a SickKids operating room being taken off a Berlin Heart (an artificial heart outside the body) and undergoing a heart transplant. Ten months later, he competed in the World Transplant Games in Australia in shot put, badminton and high jump. Today, he’s a healthy 25 year old Senior Business Development Manager at Vanguard Canada, working toward his Masters of Finance at Queen's University and writing the chartered financial analyst (CFA) designation. He still has his Heart Transplant Bravery Bead. We’re building a new SickKids so patients like David can grow up and pursue their dreams. Over 1 million SickKids patients have earned over 1 million Bravery Beads. Now, let’s reach 1 million donors. Be a part of history. Join us. www.buildanewsickkids.ca #SickKidsVS #OneMillionStrong

Like many SickKids kids, Jacob has been collecting Bravery Beads since the day he was born. He has a PICC Line Insertion Bead, many Intubation/Extubation Beads, and most recently, a Birthday Bead. However he does not yet have a Diagnosis Bead, the bead earned when a diagnosis is made. Jacob has an extremely rare genetic mutation in a single part of a single gene. He is the only documented case of a person with this particular mutation, which means there is currently no litera...ture on his condition. Though Jacob is one of many kids that are uniquely medically complex, Jacob has remained strong throughout his journey and has defied the odds - developing mentally, socially, and physically beyond what doctors thought he’d ever be able to do. Today, he is an active little boy who wears his Bravery Beads with pride, and he continues to blow everyone away with his amazing accomplishments while he collects more. A diagnosis can provide answers & inform a treatment plan for rare disease families. One day, Jacob’s family hopes they can add a Diagnosis Bead to his collection. #SickKidsVS #OneMillionStrong

This October, AboutKidsHealth is celebrating 15 years of providing trusted health & wellness information from SickKids. Please join us in celebrating 15 years of AboutKidsHealth & over 20 million users around the world each year! https://bit.ly/3j6I43m

Friend of SickKids Torri Webster visited the Completion of Treatment Bravery Bead at CF Toronto Eaton Centre. I have many close friends and family who have spent time at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. This hospital generates more bravery in young children than I have ever seen. posted Tori. You can get involved by becoming a monthly donor - SickKids is only 5,000 people away from reaching another epic goal of one million donors, and you can join the fight today! : Torri Webster www.buildthenewsickkids.ca #SickKidsVS #OneMillionStrong

Our third giant 10-foot Bravery Bead installation was revealed today at CF Sherway Gardens! The Heart Transplant Bead is earned by SickKids patients like Hudson from British Columbia who endure the wait and the surgery for a new heart. While pregnant with Hudson, expectant first-time parents Tiffany and Joe were given the worst possible newstheir baby would very likely be stillborn or die shortly after birth. Their medical team worked out a birth plan, and Tiffany had a p...lanned c-section at Mount Sinai. Hudson was rushed through the underground tunnel to SickKids and spent his first month in the Cardiac Critical Care Unit with a collapsed lung and bowel problems. He was just five pounds. When he was stable enough, he was put on the heart transplant list. At 10 months old, Hudson and his new heart went home for the very first time. #SickKidsVS #OneMillionStrong See more

The second giant 10-foot Bravery Bead installation was revealed today somewhere very specialthe front lawn of SickKids! The Test, Scan & Surgery beads are earned by SickKids patients like Mia for the many discomforts they endure as part of their treatment. There are different beads for different procedures, and over their stay many of our patients collect thousands. Three other 10-foot Bravery Beads will appear throughout the city of Torontobe on the lookout, and tag us in your pics! These beads will be at SickKids for the next six weeks. #SickKidsVS #OneMillionStrong

You may have heard that Therapeutic Clown, Ranger Ray, is back at SickKids! He even made it back to SickKids just in time to surprise his long-time friend and SickKids patient, Colm, for his birthday. Last year, through the Turning Dreams Into Memories Ann Storfer Endowment Fund, which provides unique opportunities for patients with chronic conditions and long-term hospitalizations at SickKids, Colm wished to play with Ranger Ray again. This year with the help of some magic and a stuffed toy that wish came true. Happy birthday, Colm!

17-year-old Asaiah has been a SickKids patient his whole life. These beads are only a handful of the number of beads Asaiah has earned. He has sickle cell disease, an inherited blood disorder, and has had dozens of hospital admissions, surgeries and blood transfusions. Each bead represents an obstacle overcome. We are encouraging patients to send us one, some or many of their own Bravery Beads, and we’ll make them part of our Monument to the Brave: a permanent art installati...on made of Bravery Beads that will be installed in the new SickKids as a symbol of the courage patients demonstrate during their healthcare journey. Tap this link for full details and to download and print a pre-paid mailing label: www.donateyourbravery.ca If you have any questions, email SickKids Foundation at [email protected]. #SickKidsVS #OneMillionStrong

Halloween will be different for all kids this year, but especially different for patients at SickKids. Patients like Isla just want to be healthy enough to celebrate with their families. Isla was admitted to SickKids with end-stage renal disease 2 years agothe day before Halloween. She’s been on dialysis ever since. Donations from people like you have helped us become a national leader in treating children with kidney disease. Last year, we performed approximately half of Canada’s paediatric transplants within our hospital. Please donate and help us continue to treat the most complicated cases and provide virtual care. https://bit.ly/3lrN4B7