ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, June 12, 1996 TAG: 9606120054
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: NEWS OBIT
SOURCE: BETTY HAYDEN SNIDER STAFF WRITER
NOTE: Above
MEMO: ***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on June 13, 1996.
Pediatric nurses at Carilion Roanoke Community Hospital recruited the
Christmas carolers who sang for cancer patient Tabatha Bailey last
weekend. The name of the hospital was wrong in a story Wednesday.
TABATHA Bailey knew she wouldn't see another Christmas.
On Sunday, the day before she died, the 7-year-old cancer patient celebrated one last Christmas with all the trimmings.
Her family put up a tree, strung lights around the house and fixed a traditional holiday dinner - turkey, roast beef, mashed potatoes and green beans - all Tabatha's favorite dishes.
Pediatric nurses at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital recruited carolers who came by Tabatha's Vinton home Saturday. And Santa Claus made a special delivery: a graduation Barbie doll.
After Christmas dinner, Tabatha pushed her gifts aside, saying she'd open them later.
She never had a chance to rip off the wrapping paper. But that doesn't bother her mother.
"She got to have Christmas," Debbie Bailey said.
She had planned to throw a combination July 4th/Christmas party for her daughter, but last week doctors told her to move up the date. Time was running out.
Tabatha fought a rare form of cancer called neuroblastoma for almost two years. She endured countless blood transfusions, radiation and chemotherapy treatments, surgery and a bone marrow transplant, but she hardly ever complained.
The cancer went into remission for three months, but reappeared in August. Doctors ran out of options, Bailey said, because not enough is known about neuroblastoma. Experimental drugs didn't work.
Bailey, an X-ray technician at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, rearranged her work schedule in November so she could spend more time with Tabatha. She pulls two 16-hour shifts on the weekends and one eight-hour shift during the week.
Her sister, Melinda Harris, moved from Tennessee to help with Tabatha. She's a registered nurse and provided a lot of the medical care Tabatha needed.
Tabatha enjoyed mostly "good" days until the last month. She became confined to a wheelchair, and later a stretcher.
When it was clear there would be no cure, Tabatha was angry at first, Bailey said. But she learned to accept her fate. Mother and daughter sought out literature on heaven and God.
"She never looked at it like she lost the battle with cancer," Bailey said. "We never mentioned death; she was preparing for a new life. Her goal was to be an angel."
As Tabatha withstood the daily challenges of her illness, she did her part to help others. The Appalachian region of the American Red Cross made Tabatha its poster child.
Emalee Hall, who recruits blood donors, has known the Bailey family for three years. She described Tabatha as a courageous little girl.
"I know I learned a lot from her myself," Hall said. "She was just so determined." Red Cross staffers chose Tabatha because they knew her story would move others to act.
"When you actually put a face and name with someone who needs blood, that makes [people] more aware," Hall said.
Tabatha, who dreamed of becoming a model, loved the attention she received.
"She thought she was a movie star," Bailey said.
Tabatha spent the last few months of her life doing everything she wanted to do. "She definitely lived out a lifetime in a short time," her mother said.
In May, the family flew to Myrtle Beach - Tabatha couldn't make the trip by car. She walked in the sand, splashed in the waves and played games at the arcade, but the fun lasted only one day. Tabatha got sick and spent the rest of the week in a Myrtle Beach hospital.
The Friday before last, Tabatha asked to go to a carnival at the Roanoke Civic Center. Bailey took her and her best friend, Ashley Arthur. Tabatha felt well enough to ride lots of rides that day.
"They had a blast," Bailey said.
Tabatha's final moments were spent surrounded by family, friends, her minister and her doctor.
"She died in my arms in her bed," Bailey said. When the family knew the end was near, they sent for Tabatha's brother, 12-year-old D.J., who was at school.
"She held on until she heard her brother's voice, and then she let go."
While insurance has covered most of Tabatha's medical expenses, it did not pay for the experimental drugs that were used. Donations may be made to the Tabatha Bailey Fund at Southwest Virginia Savings Bank's Vinton branch.
LENGTH: Medium: 97 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Tabatha Bailey, 7, shown in a family photo, waged aby CNBtwo-year fight with a cancer doctors know little about. Tabatha died
Monday. color.