At the tender age of four days old, baby Bailey Stevens was taken into surgery at Spring Valley Hospital in Las Vegas for a critical infection, which caused her to lose 70 percent of her small intestines. The physicians were not optimistic about her chances of survival, and recommended to Bailey’s parents, Marla and Patrick, “that they should go in and kiss her goodbye before they did the surgery,” according to grandmother Carla Clayton, who spoke with Fox5 Las Vegas. But little Bailey made it through the surgery.
Now five years old, Bailey is facing additional medical issues, experiencing seizures that can happen several times a day, and the cost of her treatment continues to pile up as bills come in from dealing with these new hurdles. Despite this, her grateful parents host an annual rodeo and donate the proceeds to Spring Valley Hospital as thanks for saving their daughter’s life.
The Fox5 Surprise Squad made an appearance at one such show, bearing unexpected gifts to help this Nevada family, much like they have with others in the past. They had a variety of supporters taking part, including the 2014 National Finals Rodeo World Champion Fallon Taylor, who offered a shopping spree in her booth to Bailey, and Little Britches Rodeo Queen Elise Wade, who brought a $1500 donation from that charity association.
Dad Patrick, in tears, said that the things they’d been through with their daughter caused him to realize that “you don’t know how much you can love one individual,” and that “a good day for Bailey is ‘hey, let’s hope she doesn’t have a seizure.’”
Upon hearing that Ann Tartar of Tartar Farm & Ranch was donating $5,000 worth of farm and ranch equipment of their choosing to improve their farm, grateful Mom Marla said, “We lost our first house because of our medical bills, so we kind of had to regroup, so this gift from Tartar’s can make a huge difference for us.”
The gifts were a blessing in disguise, as Patrick told Fox5, “You know on the way here, I was trying to figure out how we were going to do Christmas.”