All Good Days: Brain Tumor Survivor Turns Tragedy into
Possibility Through Music
David M. Bailey will be performing at the
Eastminister Presbyterian Church, 5501 Washington Avenue, on Saturday, April 19
at 7 PM. Admission is free to all. Bailey will also be playing at the churches
worship service that Sunday, April 20, at 10:30 AM. Visit his website at
davidmbailey.com._________________________________________________________________
He’s been evacuated from Beruit twice, intimidated by the
KGB, involved in top secret government operations and traveled extensively
through Europe and Japan as well as 44 of the 50 states. James Bond? No, it’s
David M. Bailey, a singer songwriter whose life so far sounds like a movie. But
in this movie, the villain isn’t a mad scientist wielding a death ray, but a
brain tumor that Bailey has been battling since 1996. And Bailey’s hope comes
from a place you can’t get to in a BMW.
Bailey was
born in Pittsburgh but spent his formative years in Beruit, Lebanon, where his
parents were Presbyterian missionaries. Bailey learned guitar from his 7th
grade English teacher. In 1982 Israel invaded Beruit and Bailey’s family was
forced to evacuate. Bailey transferred to a private school in Germany that
exclusively taught the children of missionaries.
Europe gave
Bailey the opportunity to pursue weekend jobs outside the American norm.
Instead of flipping burgers he became a hitchhiking street musician. Bailey
remembers, “In Europe every city of every size has a pedestrian street. I’d
open a case and start playing...stay until I had enough for dinner and move
on.”
During this
time Bailey formed a quartet called Certain Sounds featuring guitar, piano,
flute, and drums. Certain Sounds performed in France, Switzerland, the former
Yugoslavia, and Hungary, as well as Romania where they were stopped by the
border police. Bailey recalls, “The KGB wanted to take our instruments away.”
Bailey
graduated from college with a degree in communication arts and literature
“which enabled me to do everything and qualified me for nothing.” Bailey
literally stumbled into a government job he describes as “top secret” although
it was a “desk job not a super spy.” Bailey spent the next few years working in
various corporate positions that allowed him to travel.
While
preparing to relocate to Massachusetts Bailey began getting bad headaches that
worried his wife. His doctor attributed to the stress of getting a new job and
moving. and prescribed muscle relaxants that made the headaches worse than
ever. Finally the pain prompted Bailey’s wife to call an ambulance which Bailey
remembers thinking was “a little dramatic.” It was the last thing he remembered
as his body was wracked by a grand mal seizure caused by a Glioblastoma
multiforme or GMB brain tumor, the “grand nasty big daddy of all tumors,”
Bailey grimly jokes.
Bailey
pursued aggressive treatment at Duke University including chemo, radiation and
surgery. During this intense time Bailey rediscovered love for the instrument
that had once paid for his dinners in Europe, an instrument he had not picked
up in 10 years. Bailey started small, writing songs for the youth group at his
church but his career quickly grew. Bailey knew he had to decide between
performing full time and returning to the corporate world. “For a lot of
reasons it seemed like the right thing to do to...to see what God can do with a
brain tumor and a guitar. Basically he said ‘Get out of my way and let me show
you!”
Eleven and
a half years and 16 albums later Bailey rarely looks back though “There is a
part of me that looks at the month’s schedule and sees nothing there...I get
restless. Almost always within a week I’ve got more than I can do.” And there
is no denying the impact this troubadour has on his audience. His guest book is
full of messages from people who have been touched, even those suffering from
“cancer of the soul.” Bailey relates, “Once an older gentleman came up to me
and said ‘I don’t have a tumor but I have lost hope in a lot of different ways.
You just gave it all back.”
Bailey
has reason to impart hope to his audience. In the 10 years since his tumor was
treated he has “all good days.” Aside from losing the vision in the left side
of each eye the brain tumor has not impeded his life in any way. “I think for people
who get up on stage and share with an audience credibility is a big deal. It
adds a certain weight because of what I have gone through.” And the message he
hopes to share with his audience? “Hope is Real!”
