Our Connection with ALS

Bailey Tax & Accounting, Inc. believes in giving back to the community through organizations like the ALS Association. We have a strong connection with ALS and the ALS Association through Kevin Bailey, who passed away in January 2008 due to this horrific disease. We have been participated in the Walk to Defeat ALS to raise money and build awareness, and since we started “Kevin’s ALS Warriors” has raised over $200,000 for the ALS Association. We believe that people need to be aware of this debilitating and fatal disease and we will not stop our efforts until a cure has been found.

If you would like to donate to the ALS Association, please contact a member of our office to learn how you can help!

Kevin’s Story

Kevin Bailey was diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) on October 15th, 2002. This horrific disease slowly deteriorated his body from the strong man he once was. As his body deteriorated, his mind was always strong. Up until his death, he had still been in the office when he was able to be, and he was always a valued employee.

Saturday, January 6th 2008, Kevin Bailey and his parents, Herb & Sylvia Bailey, went to a gospel concert at a church in Lakeland. He got some phlegm caught in his throat, and he could not cough strong enough to get it from blocking his airway. His cousin who was at the concert came to do CPR until the ambulance came. He was put on a ventilator because he was unable to breath on his own. He was also put on many other drugs to keep him alive. If you talked to him and ask him to respond to you, he would move two of his fingers and would try to clench your hand at times.

The following day, he had a fever of 103 F and was unresponsive, even his pupils were not responding to light. Monday, you could see a definite change from when he came into the hospital. They did an EEG Monday and told us that it showed that he had absolutely no brain activity.

Tuesday morning, we talked to another doctor who confirmed that he was completely brain dead with a second EEG. His body, though being kept alive on life support, was already dead. Due to his living will, when he was diagnosed brain dead with no chance of recovery, the doctors were supposed to discontinue life support.

Mayo Clinic, in Jacksonville Florida, used Kevin’s brain and spinal cord to further their research in this horrific disease called ALS, which will get them one step closer to finding a cure. Also, his heart, kidneys, and liver were donated to recipients throughout Florida. In many ways, that is just one more thing that allows his legacy to live on through other people.

Kevin Bailey was said to be deceased Tuesday, January 8th, 2008. He was cremated and taken to North Carolina, which was where he had wanted to be buried. There was a viewing and service

in Vero Beach, Florida, then a funeral in Drexel, North Carolina the following weekend. At just the service in Vero Beach alone, there were over 400 attendees which attests to the great impact he made on everyone he met.

If you would like to donate to the ALS Association, please contact a member of our office to learn how you can help!