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Spirits were high in her fight to live

Bailee Dunnigan's mother suspects her exuberant 10-year-old is "making a real ruckus" up there.

By TERRI BRYCE REEVES
Published September 9, 2006

TARPON SPRINGS - Bailee Ann Dunnigan, a 10-year-old girl whose enthusiasm outshone the grueling illness she lived with for half her life, died Wednesday Sept. 6, 2006.

After battling acute lymphoblastic leukemia for five years, Bailee died at All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg.

Her aunt, Pat Dunnigan of Riverside, Ill., said the death "felt unexpected."

"We knew she was really sick, but she was so strong and never complained," she said. "We thought we'd be one of the lucky families."

Bailee's natural exuberance reminded her family of this week's boisterous Florida thunderstorms.

"She's up there singing, dancing and shaking her booty," said Bailee's mother, Robin Dunnigan, 40. "She's making a real ruckus."

Bailee was admitted to All Children's on Aug. 26, after a virus had attacked her weakened immune system. She had recently returned home from a 22-month stay in New York City for cancer treatments received at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

Her blog at www.caringbridge.org/fl/bailee expresses the exhilaration she felt upon being able to return to Tarpon Springs.

On June 20, she wrote:

The exciting news is my mom was talking with the Dr. and we are COMING HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Finally after almost two years we are finally going home to that hot, hot Florida!!!!!! I am a little scared, but I know there is nothing to be scared about. It is going to be weird living as a family again, but so fun. After almost two years, I finally get to see my dogs and see what the inside of the house looks like.

Before being tutored at home and the hospital became necessary, Bailee was a student at Tarpon Springs Elementary School. She played soccer and was a member of Brownie Troop No. 89. A born ham, she loved to sing, dance and have the microphone.

Over the past few years, friends and community members showed their support for the family by holding a series of fundraisers: a martial arts break-a-thon, a walk-a-thon, a spaghetti dinner and a golf tournament, to help the family defray medical expenses.

Bailee's family remembered her as someone with boundless enthusiasm who was always planning something. After she died, family members found a list of guests she intended to invite to her birthday party. She would have turned 11 on Oct. 23.

"She wrote everything in purple and pink ink," said her aunt. "She had millions of journals stashed all over the house."

Bailee's notebooks spoke of her love of reading, wildlife, hot dogs, Hooters restaurants, professional wrestling matches, and her two Labrador retrievers, Jake and Hershey.

It was March 5, 2001, when Bailee was diagnosed with leukemia.

"In five years, she never asked, 'Why me?'" said her aunt. "It was never about the cancer; it was always about the next exciting thing to happen. She just sucked the life out of every minute."

In October 2004, Bailee had a bone marrow transplant at Sloan-Kettering. Her brother Michael, 12, a seventh-grader at Tarpon Springs Middle School, was the donor.

"She was funny, crazy and made me laugh all the time," Michael said.

All the medical procedures Bailee endured - the surgeries, radiation and drugs - left her weak, unable to walk, and deaf.

Still, Bailee spent $77 of her own money to purchase five CDs when she returned home.

"I think she just wanted to feel like a normal kid again," said her aunt.

Bailee is survived by her parents, Robin and Michael Dunnigan; her brother, Michael; maternal grandparents, Rosemary and Neal Clark of Bonneau, S.C.; paternal grandmother Marilyn Dunnigan of Hudson; and aunts, uncles and cousins.

A viewing will be held on Monday, from 5 to 8 p.m. at St. Ignatius of Antioch Catholic Church, 715 E Orange St. in Tarpon Springs. Funeral services will be held on Tuesday at 10 a.m. at the church. Interment will follow at Sylvan Abbey Memorial Park, 2860 Sunset Point Road in Clearwater.

In lieu of flowers, donations are being accepted for Bailee's brother, Michael. Checks may be made out to Robin Dunnigan and sent to AmSouth Bank, 40786 U.S. 19 N., Tarpon Springs, FL 34689.

Correspondent Terri Reeves can be reached at treeves@tampabay.rr.com.

[Last modified September 9, 2006, 06:35:43]