A Central New York hospital is using arts and crafts to help kids battling cancer and their families cope with the disease. YNN's Erin Clarke tells us about the Beads of Courage Program at Golisano Children's Hospital.

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SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- At 19 years old Shyea Priestei has been through a lot.

"I have Sickle Cell Anemia," said Priesti.

She's been in and out of the hospital since she was a baby.

"When I do go, it's usually a long time," she said.

Once, as long as three months, but she has some help getting through it. The program Beads of Courage gives patients a bead for every event along their treatment journey.

"The white bead represents a chemo treatment, there's a bead for a blood transfusion, there's a bead for chemo therapy or an X-ray," said President of Maureen’s Hope, Sharon Bertrand. Her organization sponsors Beads of Courage.

Some kids have stands just long enough for a bracelet, while others have hundreds of beads. It's a way for kids like Brendan Krol, who was diagnosed with Leukemia at age two, to visually tell their stories.

"He knows now what a lot of them stand for and he'll make the comment on how many he has and he'll say, you know, I've had a lot of chemo," said Bendan’s mother, Megan Krol.

Unfortunately, some kids lose their battle with cancer. The beads, though remain as a memory of that child and ones that help their families cope.

"She ended up with 572 beads total, including the butterfly, which is the end of the journey bead and that was her last bead," said Mandy Warren who lost her four-year-old daughter Caitlyn just a few weeks ago.

"These breads show everything that she did go through and I'm not sure I could have done everything she did," said Warren.

A symbol that will last for years and show the fighting spirit these kids have.