Fund in Memory of Bailee Ann Bullock

After months of trying to write Bailee's story and trying to describe how beautiful, loving and amazing she was in a few paragraphs I finally decided that it's not possible, so I am going to try my best to sum her whole 15 years and 10 months up in a few paragraphs. Bailee was born June 2nd, 1997 and was the prettiest little baby I had ever seen! She was so tiny and had bright blue eyes and enough dark hair on her head that she left the hospital with a little pony tail on top of her head. When Bailee was a few days old her doctor told me that he heard a heart murmur but not to worry it was a benign heart murmur and would cause her no problems. Over the next few months Bailee seemed to be sick a lot and was not gaining weight very we'll. When Bailee was 6 months old she got sick with bronchitis and was hospitalized for a few days. After that Bailee always seemed to have a hard time breathing and used the little nebulizer more often than she didn't. She had bronchitis and pneumonia several times and at 2 years old was diagnosed with Asthma and environmental allergies. We treated her asthma and allergies and got used to her catching every little cold. She also still was not gaining much weight and was way below the curve for her age. She was born weighing 6 pounds 2 oz and did not weigh 30 pounds until she was 3 1/2 years old. When Bailee started school she also started playing soccer and was in gymnastics classes. She was a very playful, happy tiny little girl who everyone loved. When she was 7years old Bailee started telling me that her "heart felt funny" and sometimes it hurt. We took her to her pediatrician and she had an EKG. Everything looked fine on the EKG so she told us that her heart was fine. Bailee continued to tell me about the feelings in her heart so we went back to her pediatrician when she was 9, another EKG was done again looked fine but we were referred to a pediatric cardiologist at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin. The cardiologist had Bailee wear a holter monitor. Bailee did not have any of the "funny feelings" in her heart during the time she wore the monitor so the monitor did not record anything. We were told to call if we had any more concerns and sent home. About 2 years later when Bailee was 11 she was still telling me about her heart so we went back to see the Cardiologist at Children's Hospital and again Bailee had to wear a holter monitor. This time Bailee did have one "episode" while she had the monitor on and it was recorded. I was very happy about his and was hopeful that finally we would have an answer. When we met with the doctor he told us that it did record an "episode" but that her heart was fine that most likely she was having some anxiety and that is why she was having the "funny feelings" in her heart. He listened to her heart and heard the heart murmur we were told about when she was a baby, but also heard something else and wanted to have Bailee have an echocardiogram. After the echo was done the doctor came in the room and told us that he had good news and bad news which did we want to hear first. He told is that Bailee had a hole In her heart called an Atrial Septal Defect (that was the bad news) the good news was that it was a small hole and she did not need emergency heart surgery. He told is that this is not what has been causing her chest pain or feelings In her heart, but they it could have been the reason that Bailee had such a hard time gaining weight all of her little life. He told us to come back and see him in 2 years and we would talk about what we should do about the ASD. We went back In 2 years when Bailee was almost 13 and it was decided that it would be best to close the hole because there were some risks as Bailee got older that she could have problems because of the atrial septal defect. July 12th, 2010 Bailee had the surgery to close the hole in her heart. They went through her leg using cardiac catheterization and inserted a device they resembled an umbrella Into the hole to close it. The surgery went we'll and the device healed Into er heart like it was suppose to. Bailee continued to have the pains in her heart and she could not tell me that the funny feelings felt like her heart was beating fast. We told the cardiologist this many times he did Ekgs and echocardiograms and kept telling us her heart looked great! I took Bailee to the emergency room countless times and they would do an EKG and her heart looked fine they would send us home. I knew there was something wrong that everything was not fine like we had been told for so many years but I had no idea what was wrong but I thought that eventually we would figure It out. One night in April 2013, little girl Bailee went to her best friends house for a sleepover like she did so many times before. That night Bailee started having a hard time breathing an felt sick. She took a shower to see if that would make her feel better and when she got out of the shower she sat down on the bed and went into cardiac arrest. Unfortunately CPR was not started right away and after 911 was called and the EMTs tried for hours to save her they couldn't. My daughter got her angel wings on April 2nd, 2013. 15 years and 10 months after she was born. I knew it was her heart when I got that horrible phone call! I rushed to Children's Hospital and I really thought they were going to tell me "this and this happened and this was wrong with her heart we are sorry we missed it" but that did not happen. They told me they have no idea what happened. And after almost 12 weeks I was told by the medical examiner that they could not find one thing wrong with my daughter, my best friend! And her official cause of death is "undetermined". I have since then tried so hard to find an answer as to why this happened to her and in my constant googling and reading I found the SADS foundation and have read many stories like Bailee's where there was no reason for these kids to die. I still don't have answers and probobly will never know for sure what happened to her. I miss her so much! She was so "full of life" and she touched so many peoples lives. People that did not even know her have watched videos or seen pictures of her and have written to me telling me that she made an impact on their lives just reading her story and seeing her pictures. Then you for reading this long.