To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

"The yellow are every night she's had to spend in the hospital,” said Ashley Tolfa. “The black ones are every time she's been poked with a needle."

The beads have special meaning to five-year-old Madisyn Tolfa.

"Basically, her beads tell her story."

It's a story that, up until a few months ago, was like most other kids, until things started to change.

"It was walking pneumonia, then she had the stomach flu, then it was pink eye. It was one thing after another. Then she finally started complaining of pain,” said Ashley, Madisyn’s mom.

On Valentine's Day, Madisyn was diagnosed with leukemia, the most common form of childhood cancer. Ashley feared the worst.

“When you hear cancer, that's what you think of. You think of death."

Leukemia is a cancer of the blood. Once thought of as a death sentence, doctors at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo say, these days, this type of cancer is beatable.

"It has about an 85 percent cure rate," said Dr. Paulina Daniels, who put Madisyn on the most effective treatment out there – chemotherapy. The powerful drugs work, but take a toll on the patient.

"Well, we do give out more aggressive chemotherapy up front, and that usually is the toughest to deal with," said Daniels.

Madisyn lost her hair, dealt with regular bouts of nausea, and was so weak at one point she needed a wheelchair.

"I didn't know how to make it better and she looked up at me and she said, ‘cancer can take everything, but it can't take my smile,’ " said Ashley.

With the help of a positive perspective, Madisyn started to improve. She even got well enough to return to kindergarten for a month.

"She makes friends everywhere she goes. She touches lives everywhere she goes," said Ashley.

Thursday, Madisyn was back at Roswell for another round of chemo. She'll need two more years of treatment.

"These rainbow beads are for physical therapy, and some are for art," said Madisyn.

It's a journey Madisyn is keeping track of; one that's already inspired those around her.

"She's a 'super hero'. That's what we tell her," said Ashley.

"Beads of Courage" is a program launched at Roswell in March. It's designed to help pediatric cancer patients and their families deal with cancer in a therapeutic way.

To help Madisyn's family pay for the cost of her ongoing treatment two fundraisers were held. The first was in Niagara Falls in the late may. The latest was held Tuesday Night at Bruster's Ice Cream in Webster. For more on these efforts click the link below.

Madisyn Tolfa Fund