A Tribute to Adam Bailey

Adam's Story can be summed up with a statement a few of us heard him say the day we met him.. "I Love My Life!" Here was a child with an injury sustained from an automobile accident at age 5. A joy stick at his chin was how he controlled his wheel chair. He depended on tubes which allowed him to breath. Yet it only took one look in his eyes to see how special this boy was. He took away all excuses and left everyone he touched feeling better. Adam had a way of making you look at your life realizing that we take much for granted. In the couple of years we got to know Adam he left a lasting impression on many.

At the Camp Adam was known for his thirst for adventure. He roamed the camp at will. He participated in any sports event available. In his mind he had no limits. One camp director tells of the day Adam got a little out of control and flipped his wheel chair. He sustained a bruise on his head but refused to let that stop him. A personal nurse of Adams recalls a trip on a roller coaster where his breathing tube came out during the ride. This literally left Adam breathless! At the end of the ride he was hooked back up and continued to enjoy the rides at the park.

Adam passed away a few days before Christmas in 1998 at the age of 12. His life on earth had been shortened due to injuries sustained in the accident but the spirit of Adam is still alive. The Adam Bailey Foundation was formed to pass his vision and attitude to many others with and without physical disabilities.

A Tribute to Adam's Spirit

by Lisa Williams Ackley
Staff Writer
He had a quick wit, a high degree of intelligence, an extraordinary sense of humor and a terrific, impish smile!
That is how I will always remember 12-year-old Adam Bailey, who passed away, suddenly, last week.
Two weeks after his fifth birthday, Adam was seriously injured in a car accident on June 23, 1991, which left him paralyzed from the neck down. However, his indomitable spirit could never be tethered by any earthly restrictions, and his mind was sharp as a steel trap. His mother, Lisa, and brother, Brian, who were passengers in the same vehicle, were also injured in the accident.
Adam was a more than avid sports fan who could spew out statistics about his favorite football, basketball and baseball teams more astutely than some professional sportscasters, and hope someday he might be a sports broadcaster himself. He would have made a great one, I know! The Dallas Cowboys, Chicago Bulls and the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame were his favorites.
Adam loved to tease people in a good-natured fashion, and had numerous admirers. People admired him, not out of pity, but out of a sense of awe and respect that such a young boy could handle so much adversity with such grace and dignity.
I first met Adam, Lisa and Brian when they still lived in their cramped apartment on Knight's Hill. I remember being touched by the closeness the three of them shared - Lisa and her boys. The family was dreaming then of having a home of their own that would allow Adam to move about at will in his motorized wheelchair.
In 1995, their dream became a reality, and Lisa and the boys moved in to their new home on Swamp Road. What a wondrous sight it was to see the excitement and joy in Adam's eyes as he whizzed up and down the driveway in his motorized "chariot!"
Adam lived a full a life as someone with no visible limitations. Even after the accident, Adam got to experience some very exciting things - such as roller coasters, Disney World and rides on a motorcycle. He derived his greatest enjoyment, however, from being with his family and friends, attending games at the local schools and cheering on the home teams.
But, the greatest gifts he possessed, bestowed on him by his Creator, were his free spirit and his ever-expanding mind. Adam soaked up everything there was to learn around him and incorporated it all into his seemingly infinite memory. Thus, his natural ability for statistics.
As the minister said at the service held last week to celebrate Adam's life, Adam was not perfect. None of us are. Adam expressed his feelings and lived his faith. He was a wonderful human being who, regardless of his physical limitations, had a chance to fully participate in a myriad of life's experiences. He lived life!
Adam Bailey touched so very, very many lives.
There now, I can see him in my mind's eye, his head cocked to the side a bit, flashing the contagious smile. And, we are smiling through our tears, Adam, at the young man whose wonderfully impish smile shall never fade from our memories.