Cancer survivor performs in Mayfield tonight
By JOEL DiTATA, The Leader-HeraldArticle Photos
MAYFIELD - Imagine being told you only have six months to live.
Now, imagine recording 22 albums, performing in 21 different countries and being featured on "60 Minutes."
It is not a scenario David M. Bailey has to imagine. It is something Bailey -who will perform at the Mayfield Central Presbyterian Church tonight - has lived.
After a month of suffering from agonizing headaches, one morning Bailey fell in his home and had to be rushed in an ambulance to a nearby hospital in Fredericksburg, Va.
In July 1996, Bailey was diagnosed with Glioblastoma Multiforme, the most common and aggressive type of brain tumor. He was transferred to Fairfax, Va., where he received a MRI. A few hours later his baseball-sized tumor was being operated on.
With only six months to live, Bailey chose to make some life changing decisions. He had jobs in the federal government as a CIA analyst, working in the private sector, and as a computer programmer. It was time to leave that all behind.
"Life isn't all about trying to scramble up the corporate ladder and trying to get the next big promotion, it just took a tragedy for me to realize," Bailey said.
What Bailey left those accomplished positions for was music.
Bailey started playing guitar at the age of seven and continued through his senior year of college, until he began climbing the corporate ladder.
So when doctors told him he had only six months left to live, Bailey decided to tour and write songs for as long as he could.
"Six months turned into a year, a year turned into five years, and then five into 10," he said. "People called me the 'Miracle Boy.'"
Bailey has lived 12 years and six months longer than what was originally expected of him. Coupled with the phenomenal musical success he has enjoyed, Bailey's story is remarkable.
Mayfield Central Presbyterian Church Pastor Bonnie Orth believes Bailey, a personal friend, is simply "amazing."
Bailey performed at a conference Orth attended in Nashville, Tenn. When Orth later received word that his medical condition had worsened, Orth sent an e-mail telling Bailey that she and her parishioners would pray for him.
The e-mail started a friendship. Bailey performed in Mayfield, after two more brain surgeries, just weeks before Christmas in 2008.
Bailey said people have told him of terrible hardships even worse than his own. When people attend his performances, Bailey wants to send them one message.
"My goal is that when people walk out [of my concert] that they feel slightly renewed about the joy of another day," he said.
Bailey returns tonight to perform his own original songs from his "Christmas" CD and from his new CD, "Friendship."
The concert will be held at 7 p.m. at the church.
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Patriot1
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12-06-09 10:03 PM
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A great story - a man worth meeting and a performance worth watching.
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