There’s nothing that quite brings out a smile than a handful of shiny bright glass and sterling silver beads, just waiting to be handcrafted into a necklace or bracelet.

Every Wednesday, adult and pediatric patients of Hackensack University Medical Center’s John Theurer Cancer Center and Tomorrows Children’s Institute for Cancer and Blood Disorders look forward to a visit from the “Bead Lady,” Maryann Corey, of Forest City, Pennsylvania. Corey’s mission and that of her non-profit organization, The Portable Playhouse, Inc., is to bring arts and crafts to hospitals and cancer centers to help distract patients from unpleasant medical treatments while enhancing their healing process and nurturing their spirits.

For the past seven years, Corey and her team of dedicated volunteers have brought their bead boxes of 60+ different kinds of authentic tinkling beads to the John Theurer Cancer Center, New Jersey’s largest cancer center and among the most active in the nation. Corey and her volunteers help patients undergoing chemotherapy or other cancer treatments forget their illness for a little while as together they string pieces of beaded jewelry.

“My first visits at the John Theurer Cancer Center were with women undergoing breast cancer treatment, including my sister, Colleen,” Corey recalls. “I had been doing beading with children in other hospitals and when I looked around the room at all the women’s anxious faces, I ran to my car and got my bead box. Within 10 minutes of sitting and beading with the women, the aura in the room changed and no one was thinking about their illness. That’s when I knew we had to expand into working with adults, too.”

Natives of Bergen County, Corey and her sister, Patty McGeary, founded The Portable Playhouse in Boston in 2001, after deciding to pursue a meaningful path for the second half of their lives. The organization, staffed by themselves and volunteer beaders, provides personalized arts and crafts programs for women and children of all ages and in all stages of recovery. The volunteers work one-to-one at the bedside or chairside of patients in 13 hospitals in Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania. There are no fees for patients. Funding for the beads, other crafts materials, and gas money for volunteer beaders is provided through private and corporate donations, including funds raised by the Hackensack University Medical Center Foundation and through the sale of Silly Milly crow dolls that Portable Playhouse volunteers use to entertain pediatric patients.

“The joy we reap in doing this is immeasurable,” says Corey. “I am honored and privileged that our partner hospitals welcome us with open arms. Many of our patients have image issues because of losing their hair or other side effects of treatment. The jewelry they create helps them feel beautiful again and helps patients feel reconnected, not alone, during this time of their lives.”

If you are interested in volunteering with The Portable Playhouse at the John Theurer Cancer Center, contact Maryann Corey at 570-785-7575. Corey’s visits are coordinated through the John Theurer Cancer Center’s Surprise and Delight Committee, which was established in 2007 by Cancer Center Chairman and Executive Administrative Director Andrew L. Pecora, M.D. The committee is an important component of the Cancer Center’s goal to transform a customer’s experience – in this case a patient’s time spent at the cancer center – into a positive one.

“Maryann Corey’s visits enhance the extraordinary care we are providing at the John Theurer Cancer Center,” says Dr. Pecora.

The Surprise and Delight Committee, co-chaired by Cancer Center employees Jeannie Jones, executive administrative assistant to Dr. Pecora, and Kathy Roupenian, reception coordinator for the John Theurer Cancer Center, secures donations of food, flowers, gift bags, paper products, tea, and even prayer shawls.

In addition to Ms. Jones and Ms. Roupenian, the Surprise and Delight Committee includes other Cancer Center employees, including social workers and dietitians who assist with deciding which types of foods are appropriate for patients with cancer. Medical center volunteers help the committee organize the donations and distribute them to patients throughout the John Theurer Cancer Center’s facilities in the Medical Plaza, Sanzari Building, and Hillcrest Building.

The Surprise and Delight Committee’s wish list includes food items with a long shelf-life, including granola bars, individually packaged cookies, sugar-free treats, and bottled water. Small $5 gift cards and holiday items would be appreciated. Anyone wishing to make a donation can call Jeannie Jones at 201-996-5914 or Kathy Roupenian at 201-336-8704.

The John Theurer Cancer Center provides extraordinary cancer care by offering multidisciplinary care, personalized treatment, innovative research, superior outcomes, and patient satisfaction within 14 disease-specific, treatment, or research divisions.