Stories of progress, inspiration, and information in overcoming osteosarcoma.

Finding Joy in the Journey: Camden Bailey’s Story and the Foundation He Left Behind

After three years of clear scans, Camden’s cancer returned. When he learned he wouldn’t survive, he started a foundation to support osteosarcoma research.

When Camden Bailey learned his cancer was terminal, the first thing he did was tell his parents he wanted to start a scholarship in his name. “That’s the kind of kid he was. He was always thinking of other people,” says Chris Bailey, Camden’s father.

The idea grew into the Camden Bailey Cancer Foundation. “Camden started the foundation with his vision and mission statement. It was nice that he was able to be part of that formation, since oftentimes they are created after someone is gone,” Chris says.

Six months after launch, and before Camden passed away, the foundation had raised enough to fund two $20,000 awards. One went to Katherine Janeway, MD, MMSc, to support her osteosarcoma lab, and the other went to Camden’s own oncologist, Natalie Collins, MD, PhD, who was starting a CAR T-cell trial.

Here’s how Camden’s journey unfolded.

A Suspected Sports Injury Wouldn’t Heal

In January 2018, Camden’s knee started bothering him during eighth-grade basketball. He and his family thought it was an athletic injury, and Camden played the final four weeks of the season for his team in Bartlett, NH.

In February, he went to the doctor, who recommended three weeks of physical therapy. By March, while Camden was trying out for a travel basketball team, “he was hobbling around the gym. It had gotten worse, not better. We didn’t realize it because he hadn’t been competing, so we hadn’t seen him run,” Chris says.

Camden went back to the pediatrician, and a suspicious area showed up on X-ray. An orthopedic specialist at Boston Children’s Hospital diagnosed osteosarcoma.

“It didn’t really sink in at first,” says Jen Bailey, Camden’s mother. It became real, she says, when Camden’s hair began falling out from chemotherapy and they started discussing surgeries.

Choosing a Path Forward

Camden began MAP chemotherapy soon after he was diagnosed, and he completed two rounds before his leg surgery.

He and his family considered three surgical options: amputation; limb salvage, which replaces the parts of the bone that were removed internally; and rotationplasty, in which the leg is removed, the lower leg is reversed and reattached to the upper leg, the ankle functions as a knee, and the foot can attach to a prosthesis.

He chose rotationplasty. “It was the best option for returning to sports,” Chris says. Camden had surgery in June, just three months after diagnosis. Over the course of the next nine months, Chris and Camden travelled back and forth to Boston for treatment and surgeries, while Jen stayed in New Hampshire with Camden’s brothers, Braeden and Daven, and joining them in Boston when able.

After the leg surgery, doctors discovered lung nodules. Camden’s chemo regimen was expanded, and he underwent two lung surgeries, in October and November.

Back to School and Sports

By March 2019, Camden was in remission. “He was excited to start the end of ninth grade,” Jen says.

Along with going back to school, Camden did several months of intensive physical therapy to learn to walk and run again using his prosthetic leg. Five months after completing his treatment, Camden was back on the football field playing quarterback for his junior varsity team.

That August, on his very first play, during their first scrimmage, Camden completed a 40-yard touchdown pass. Camden went on to enjoy a very successful sophomore football season leading his team to win most of their games.

A broken elbow, unrelated to osteosarcoma, prevented him from playing football his Junior year, but he was able to play, tennis, and basketball.

“No matter how bad things were, Camden persevered,” Chris says.

Camden returned to football his senior season, and as the starting varsity quarterback, he earned All State recognition. “His school accomplishments were equally impressive. After missing most of his freshman year of high school, he went on to become the salutatorian and president of his class.”

“‘Find joy in the journey.’ It was his constant reminder to make the most of every day.” —Chris Bailey, Camden's father

A Nodule After Three Clear Years

Camden’s scans stayed clear through the rest of high school. Just a week after his graduation, though, a routine scan found a lung nodule.

“It was awful,” Jen says. “After that, we tried all sorts of things.”

Camden had surgery to remove the nodule and enrolled in a clinical trial testing listeria, which had shown some success in dogs. That fall, he headed to the University of North Carolina. Every three weeks, he flew from North Carolina to Boston, met his parents there for a day of treatment, then flew back to school.

Just as Camden was finishing the listeria trial, his doctors found and removed another nodule. His oncologist started him on Regorafenib, an oral chemo pill. That helped him through the fall of his sophomore year, allowing him to continue studying and managing the UNC football team.

Camden came home for Christmas, scans showed additional nodules, and he switched to another trial. By spring, the cancer had progressed, with nodules appearing around his heart, lungs and diaphragm. Radiation treatments and surgeries couldn’t keep pace. By July, scans showed further progression.

“The poor kid couldn’t catch a break,” Chris says. “We had to make the difficult decision of whether he would go back to school. He really loved UNC. He found his people and made some really close friends there.”

With the support of his family and doctors, Camden returned to UNC. He enrolled in a clinical trial at Duke University, but it didn’t help. He tried radiation again, which helped in the targeted areas, but more cancer was popping up in other places.

When Treatment Wasn’t Enough

Camden’s prognosis became terminal. Doctors gave him two to four months without treatment, or six to eight with more chemo. He chose chemo and made the difficult decision to leave school to focus on his treatment and to make the most of whatever time he had left. He lived for another year.

The family made the most of this time, traveling to Quebec and Ireland. “That was a big thing with Camden, making the most of every single day he had,” Chris says.

When he couldn’t return to campus for what would have been his junior spring semester, 17 friends came to New Hampshire instead, spending their spring break together in a house a family friend lent them.

By April, Camden was having trouble eating. The radiation treatments had damaged his esophagus. He was hospitalized with a gastrointestinal tube for a month. After the fourth chemo treatment, it was deemed too harsh and, with the help of his wonderful care team at the Jimmy Fund Clinic, Camden was able to go home to recover.

In July, after receiving ten more rounds of radiation, Camden and his family were able to join family friends on a trip to the Outer Banks. But by August, he needed supplemental oxygen to help with breathing problems. Despite his health issues, in September, Camden and Chris traveled to UNC to see Bill Belichick’s first game as head coach. In November, the UNC football team recognized him for his dedication to the football program and for starting his foundation.

In December, Camden’s health got steadily worse. “His condition just continued to spiral downward,” Chris says. “He passed away the morning of December 10. That was a shock because the end came so quickly. Nobody was anticipating it.”

Find Joy in the Journey

A sign hung in the Bailey home throughout much of Camden’s life. After he passed, his family found he’d made it his phone’s screensaver: “‘Find joy in the journey.’ It was his constant reminder to make the most of every day,” Chris says.