Since starting Beading for Brain Cancer, Elana has raised close to $10,000 for glioblastoma research at several Massachusetts hospitals. She sells them throughout New England and has shipped them as far away as Brazil. Over the past 10 years, Elana has made hundreds of bracelets. Elana Sargent makes and sells bracelets featuring beads and ribbons of gray, the official color for brain cancer awareness.

Elana and Jack made over 800 bracelets for fellow guests at the event, and helped unite the entire room in the fight against brain tumors for the night. That same year, Mass General honored Elana and her brother, Jack, at the one hundred for their efforts. Continuing the MissionĮlana decided to continue the Beading for Brain Cancer project in her father’s memory after he passed away from his disease, in 2011.

Elana presented the check to Tracy Batchelor, MD, MPH, executive director of the Pappas Center for Neuro-Oncology and her father’s neuro-oncologist. In 2009, Elana and her family donated $1,000 raised from bracelet sales to glioblastoma research at the Mass General Cancer Center. Soon, nearly every caregiver at Massachusetts General Hospital’s Pappas Center for Neuro-Oncology, where her father received care, was wearing one. There was a surge of orders from members of Elana’s community. Her jewelry quickly gained popularity, and the business took off. With her family’s encouragement, Elana sold the bracelets for $10 each at local stores. She gifted her first few bracelets to family and close friends at Thanksgiving. Bracelets for a CureĮlana began working with her mother, Lisa, to craft bracelets with beads and ribbons of gray – the official color for brain cancer awareness. She started Beading for Brain Cancer – a non-profit bracelet company whose goal was to raise money to support related research. While Elana didn’t know much about brain tumors, she was determined to find a way to help. Elana Sargent as a little girl, with her father, Jack. Elana Sargent was only 9 years old when her father, Jack, was diagnosed with a glioblastoma – an aggressive type of brain tumor that only has a 5% chance of survival after five years.

Be brave cancer bracelets