Blood drives draw giving to third-grader
Anyone who has seen the fliers around town knows they have the chance to change the life of a Godwin Elementary student who is awaiting a liver transplant.
However, they might not know that much about fourth-grader Madison Bailey, or the other ways in which they can help.
Neighbor and family friend Julie Courtney, whose child is in the same grade as Madison’s 7-year-old sister, has decided to draw on the crowds attending the May 10 Godwin garage sale at Princeton High School.
“I thought it was a good time to bring people in. Hopefully people who come to the garage sale will give blood. We want to do whatever we can to help them,” Courtney said.
Any of the volunteers and shoppers at the garage sale, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., will have the opportunity to collect blood that Madison will need for blood transfusions in connection with the transplant.
Courtney said the blood donated at the garage sale will go directly to help Madison.
“She is a very sick little girl and we here at Godwin wanted to do something to help her and her family,” said Godwin receptionist Jackie Traylor, who will also be volunteering at the event.
In addition, the Princeton High School student council hosted Carter BloodCare at the school from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, May 7, open to anyone interested in donating blood.
The student council dedicated
the drive to Madison, with all blood donated going toward credits to pay for Madison’s transfusions.
Carter BloodCare will operate its Neighborhood Mobile Blood Drive at both the May 7 and the May 10 event.
Madison currently is in the care of Children’s Hospital in Dallas, suffering from liver failure due to blood clots.
“She is very smart and she loves to read, and she apparently loves to play games,” Courtney said. “She’s a beautiful little sweet girl.”
Madison’s grandmother, Danya Gibbs, describes “Madie,” (as the 9-year-old prefers to be called) as a bubbly, strong and extremely outgoing and competitive gymnast.
Gibbs said Madie has been tumbling since she was 18 months old at Tumble Bugs in McKinney, where she’s now a part of a competitive team, “TBG.”
Madie’s last gymnastics meet was in late 2007; by January she was starting to show signs of her illness.
After several weeks of uncertainty after complications with hepatitis A, the family’s pediatrician recommended they go to Children’s Hospital, where in March she was diagnosed with Budd-Chiari Syndrome.
“She’s gone from someone who normally bounces off every wall to a little girl who has to be helped to walk,” Gibbs said. “She’s still the same positive, really happy person. She brightens up a room.”
Gibbs also noted Madie’s strength when undergoing tests and treatment at the hospital.
“She’s have five MRIs with no sedation. She said to me, ‘You have to push past the pain and behave, and be still in gymnastics, Grandma,’” she said.
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