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Game not over for fallen football star
(by Maggie Fazeli Fard - April 29, 2008)
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Photo courtesy of Bill Bailey
Bill Bailey is pictured in this recent family photo with his wife, Becky, and her daughters, 15-year-old Liz and 12-year-old Emily Carr. Becky’s son and Bailey’s sons from a previous marriage are not pictured. Bailey was injured playing in a football game at Pascack Hills High School nearly four decades ago and has since faced numerous complications that ended with the amputation of his left leg in February. A fundraising rally will be held in Bailey’s honor on June 28 with hopes of raising money and reuniting old friends.
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The year was 1969. The game was Cowboys versus Indians. Bill Bailey,
Pascack
Hills
High School ’s football star du jour, was outfitted in the requisite long spikes of the era and had his left foot planted solidly in the ground, firm from the autumn chill. Bailey was strong, sure and ready to win.
But then a rival came from his left. And then another from his right. Those on the sidelines of the Hills-Valley game heard a crack and a scream. But on the field, only shock was perceptible.
“I had no idea what happened,” recalls Bailey. “It was like an explosion.”
‘Eating me up from the inside out’
Permanently sidelined from football despite knee surgery a year after his injury, Bailey turned to wrestling as a freshman at Springfield, Ohio’s
Wittenberg
University in 1971. First, he suffered an elbow injury. Then, during a varsity match, another explosion: his left kneecap was ripped off.
In the 30 years that followed, Bailey underwent more than one dozen surgeries. By June 2007, he and his family were hopeful that they had tackled the last complication, stabilizing the rod that runs from the knee into the shinbone, the anchor of the lower leg, which had been shifting for nearly a decade.
“But after that I got the staph infection,” remembers Bailey morosely. “I was real sick.”
Three surgeries were conducted in quick succession to remove the artificial knee and clean it. A microwave was used as a disinfectant.
From July to November, he was on a Pick line, a semipermanent IV that snakes through the vein directly to the heart. It delivered a cocktail of five different antibiotics. In November, he switched to oral antibiotics.
“But I just wasn’t getting any better and the mobility wasn’t coming back,” says Bailey, who lives in
Fort Wayne, Indiana with his second wife, Becky, and her three children. “In February, I knew something had to be done.”
On Feb. 14, 2008, Valentine’s Day, Bailey went to the doctor.
“They did a draw,” he says. “As soon as I saw the fluid, I knew. The infection was kind of eating me up from the inside out.”
Four days later, on Becky’s birthday, doctors took the left leg above the knee.
“I knew in my heart of hearts I wasn’t coming out of this with two legs. To save me, they took the leg.”
‘What goes around comes around’
Jeff Wycoff will only say that Bailey stepped into his life “at a really hard time.”
They were in the same grade at school and Bailey was a legend, remembers Wycoff.
“He was the typical blond-haired, blue-eyed, all-American, strapping athlete. He had a laugh that could cure anything. He was as nice as could be. He came into my life and it was like, ‘This legend likes me!?’ I didn’t know what to do.”
Wycoff was in the stands in 1969, on the day of the crack and the scream. He was there when his friend’s life changed forever. They stayed in touch for a while, but the pair saw each other for the last time about 10 years ago. Bailey became a friend thought of in passing.
And then in February, Wycoff got a call from his mother, Miriam. She was a “team mom” through and through, loved by all of Wycoff’s friends, who endearingly called her “Soph.” No one knows where she got that name, Wycoff says with a chuckle.
Soph, now 84 years old, had e-mailed Bailey. Bailey had just gotten out of the hospital and couldn’t help but give her a snarky response when she asked if he was still on the planet.
“I’m still on the planet, barely, but only part of me,” Bailey remembers writing. “Next thing I know, the phone rings; it’s her.”
Bailey told Soph about his troubles. Surgeries aside, he had been out of work for more than one year and had no insurance. The first round of surgeries in 2007 cost more than $100,000. The amputation only tightened the family’s now non-existent budget. A bare-bones prosthetic leg would cost him $15,000 while a high-tech leg with microprocessors would cost closer to $80,000. Medicaid was only retroactive to last November. His family was facing bankruptcy.
Soph promptly called her son. Wycoff was in shock when he heard what had become of his childhood friend. And he knew it was his turn to return the favor.
“Bill holds a very special place in my heart. I believe I wouldn’t be where I am now without him. I am very blessed. What goes around comes around.”
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Rally ‘Round for Bill Bailey
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What: A fundraiser to benefit Bill Bailey, a Pascack Hills H.S. graduate whose high school knee injury in 1969 led to the amputation of his left leg in February.
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When: Saturday, June 28, 7 to 11 p.m.
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Where: Elks Lodge, 505 Kinderkamack Road in Westwood
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To RSVP or donate: Send a check made out to “The Bill Bailey Fund” for $100 per person to Miriam Wycoff, 801 Gillaspie Drive, Apt. 270, Boulder, CO 80305.
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Reservations: Due by May 15
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Contact: Doug Janssen, Class of ’69, at douglas.janssen@comcast.net; Matt Wertheim, Class of ’70, at mwertheim@callagygroup.com; Jeff Wycoff or Karen Vistica McCorkindale, Class of ’71, at JeffWycoff@aol.com or kmccorkindale@smithhanley.com; Scott Furman, Class of ’73, at mmfurman@optonline.net
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Rally ‘round for Bill Bailey
Wycoff, who now lives in
Colorado , started calling up old classmates. Before long, word of Bailey’s situation had spread, and a fundraiser-reunion-rally was in the works. Friends, coaches, community members who remembered the fallen legend’s name – they all jumped on board to help. And on June 28, they will reunite with Bailey at a benefit called “Rally ‘Round for Bill Bailey” at the Westwood Elks Lodge.
“This tragedy is pulling a lot of people back together,” says Wycoff excitedly. “I can’t wait to see him again. I want him to see how much he meant to everybody.”
The cost to attend is set at $100 per person, but Wycoff insists that the admission price is only a suggested donation. The cost of the event is covered, said Wycoff, so 100 percent of the money raised will go to Bailey and his family.
“If you can’t afford a dollar, just come,” he says. “If you can donate, great, but if not, come. You’ll raise Bill’s spirits.”
As far as Bailey is concerned, his spirits have already been raised beyond his wildest dreams.
“I hated losing the leg,” he admits. “I’d been through so many surgeries and rehabs with it. But I didn’t realize how sick I was until it was gone. I just feel so good after the amputation.”
He currently gets around based on a three-pronged plan, using a walker to get around the house, crutches when he’s outside and a wheelchair while traveling. Two weeks ago, he began the process of being fitted for a new leg.
Bailey says he is thrilled to be talking to people he hasn’t heard from in more than 30 years. He says he plans to fly out for a week with his family in June; the kids are requesting a trip down the shore.
Then he goes silent. A swallow is barely audible through the phone line.
“I am humbled by this,” he finally says. “It’s so amazing. Words just can’t… There’s no way to say thank you. No money, $1 or $5 – it doesn’t matter. Just the outpouring is… I’m in awe.”
Maggie Fazeli Fard's e-mail address is fazelifard@northjersey.com.
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