Pilot Point Girls Track Team Raises Awareness For Coach's Daughter Through Team Abigail

 
Video By: TTFCA

While Pilot Point (Tx.) High girls track and field coach Rick Bailey only began at the school three seasons ago, it doesn't feel that way.

Sometimes he feels like it's been a lifetime with the Bearcats.

On Friday and Saturday, Bailey's team, running for the first time for the independent club "Team Abigail," will compete at the Dunamis Sports Group Indoor Prep Classic at the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco.

But that's worth an explanation.

If we go back nearly three and half years ago, Bailey's daughter, Abigail, was born at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas.

It's there where he and his wife, Lissette, realized their daughter had been born with DiGeorge syndrome, which is the deletion of a a piece of chromosome 22. Not only that, but Abigail was born with a congenital heart defect -- specifically, she was without a pulmonary artery that carries blood from the heart to the lungs. 

From birth, her lung capacity was nearly 40-percent lower than the average person. Doctors believed she wasn't sure to live past a year.

But lived Abigail did, through two open heart surgeries. And her oxygen levels have risen since. Bailey and his wife were amazed each time their daughter fought through impossible odds.

"We literally had a six month birthday party for her, because we weren't sure she'd make it through a year," he said.

Of course, this impacted Bailey's teaching and coaching. He remained professional, working through this heartache, but his team also became aware of the situation.

Abigail isn't out of the woods, either.

With each surgery needed for Abigail, Bailey said, his girls track team made posters and cards and wished the family well. That included Bailey's former family at Aubrey High, which bought approximately 1,500 shirts to say they were with "Team Abigail."

Actually, it probably goes deeper than that, considering Bailey has been a track coach for 15 years. It's fair to say many in his track family reached out to him during his daughter's time in need.

"The community of people," Bailey said. "It was so good to see."

Abigail has been in the thoughts of Bailey's teams over the last three years. But at Pilot Point, where he's developed a strong connection with his athletes, they knew that they had to reward their coach, and Abigail, in some way.

They knew the fight would go beyond just a few years. So the team decided to support Abigail in a small way, creating a club team by the name of "Team Abigail."

They created shirts, putting a big 'W' in the middle of the shirt, like the insignia of Wonder Woman. The name and symbol is meant not only to support Abigail in her fight, but also to raise awareness about congenital heart defects, which affects nearly 40,000 births per year.

For the first time this weekend, Bailey's team at Pilot Point, running under the club's new name, will try to compete for the three-year-old girl who's fighting the bigger fight.

"She just fights, she's strong," Bailey said. "She's a frail little thing, but she's getting bigger. You watch her, it doesn't matter what it is, she kicks it in the ass."