Jayden Bailey, the Lebanon athlete who died from cancer, receives courage award
· Yahoo Sports
London Elie-Wright was lying on a mattress on the floor of her family's Lebanon home, nearly five months pregnant.
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The morning of Feb. 19, 2026 was in its infancy.
The clock ticked toward 2 a.m.
Her oldest son, Jayden Bailey, was held hostage in a hospital bed in the same room. His body was finally saying no more to osteosarcoma, the rare form of bone cancer with which he'd been diagnosed in June 2022.
"Mom, mom," he said, barely above a whisper.
Elie-Wright thought her son might be hungry. Thirsty, maybe.
She offered him ice cream. She offered him Gatorade. She offered him "whatever you want."
Jayden Bailey wanted none of that.
" 'No, Mom,' " he said. " 'I just want you to kiss my forehead.' "
Jayden Bailey, in his own way, just wanted to say goodbye.
Elie-Wright, who'd been "hurting" from normal pregnancy, pulled herself up from the floor and "went over and gave him a kiss."
"That was the most special moment before he passed," she said.
Then Bailey, who had been "forgetting a bunch," asked his mother if they had prayed.
"I was like, 'Yeah, but we can pray again,' " Elie-Wright said.
And so they did. Just like they did when doctors told them over and again that Jayden might not have long to live.
A few hours later, Jayden Bailey died on that bed in that room with his family.
With that last kiss barely dry on his forehead. That last prayer still trailing in the air.
He'd turned 17 years old a shade north of two months earlier.
There were so many special moments during his 6,278 days of life.
Most of the last of which he spent kindly cursing out the cancer to himself. The cancer that cost him his left arm but not his aspirations. Robbed him of his life but not his spirit. Cost him frustration but not his high school basketball career.
Or his friends.
Or his family.
Or hope.
Because of the way Jayden Bailey made others feel despite his own pain. Because of the example Jayden Bailey set for his peers and elders alike. Because Jayden Bailey didn't know the definition of the word "quit."
For all those reasons and more, Bailey, who was a junior at Lebanon High School, received the 2026 Kaia Jergenson Courage Award, Presented by Southeast Financial Credit Union posthumously at The Tennessean's Middle Tennessee Sports Awards, Presented by Ponce Law.
Jayden Bailey's name will be remembered by baby brother
London Elie-Wright is due to give birth to her third child in July.
She and her husband Mickey Wright already have a name picked out for the boy.
Obie Jay Wright.
The middle name is a tribute to Bailey, who gave it his stamp of approval once he found out.
"That video of him, when we got his reaction (to the news his mother was pregnant), the one thing, he was like, 'It better be a boy,' " Elie-Wright said.
A boy who will carry on the name of a boy who did his own name proud.
A boy who will be a little brother to Amira Jade.
A boy who surely will hear endless stories about the big brother he never will get to meet.
How Jayden Bailey lived his life
Jayden Bailey allowed London Elie-Wright and countless others to see the light through his darkness.
Like the time he was bucked off a pony when he was 2 years old and got right back up and ran after said pony.
Not because he was upset. Because he wanted to get right back on it.
"Run after it and get back on it," Elie-Wright said. "That's what he does."
Like when he played varsity basketball months after having his left arm amputated.
Like when he taught himself to play video games with his toes.
Like when he spoke to church groups and youth groups and his peers and his elders.
Jayden Bailey knew the darkness, though. He just wasn't afraid of it.
"There have been times I've sat by myself. I've cried," he told The Tennessean in November. "I've lost it. We'll get some horrible news out of nowhere when things are going so well. Through the whole journey I've been a hugely faithful person. I'm a strong believer in God.
"So, no, I'm not afraid to die."
While the family never talked about death much, instead choosing to live, the burden of carrying a baby, trying to raise one and trying to keep one alive weighed heavily on Elie-Wright. After all, this was the same boy she shared sandwiches with at McDonald's when she was a young, struggling, single mother.
Her son's death, though, allowed her to see life differently. Allowed her listen to all the testimonials about the difference Jayden made in other people's lives when he was losing his own.
"It's become so clear and I'm thankful for that," she said. "I need it because ... even before Jayden's passing, I went to dark places that I didn't want to go. Even with the thought of him dying, I couldn't see the light. ... One of my prayers now is that I continue to see the light."
'He lifted my chin and kissed me'
His mother wasn't the only person whom Jayden Bailey asked for a kiss.
He asked his girlfriend, Kyndall Robinson, for permission before they shared their first kiss.
They had been talking about it through text messages that day. They'd been talking about if for a while.
And after lunch that day, it happened.
On the third floor at Lebanon High.
She was headed to biology class and he was headed to a different class when they ran into each other.
"We had hugged goodbye," Robinson said. "Then he lifted my chin and just kissed me. ... I was shaking. I just didn't know how to react."
She also didn't know how to react when Jayden died.
It didn't seem real. Everything happened so quickly.
She'd known him since before he was diagnosed.
She'd been with him in the good times, like when they both went as Goofy for Halloween with Robinson's siblings, who were dressed as Mickey and Minnie.
And not so good times. The times he wasn't feeling the best.
"I was just trying to be there without saying, 'Are you OK?' " she said. "Because it was obvious he wasn't. He was in a lot of pain that day."
So she helped him build his Legos. Helped him build his confidence.
"He didn't want people to look at him for what he had going on," Robinson said. "He just wanted people to know him for him. He didn't realize how many people he inspired to be like him."
Perhaps New Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church pastor Michael Ruttlen summed it up best during a service for Bailey at the high school.
"Babe Ruth said that heroes die," Ruttlen said. "We're not looking at a hero. We are looking at a legend. He will continue to live. Death didn't win."
Paul Skrbina is a sports enterprise reporter covering the Predators, Titans, Nashville SC, local colleges and local sports for The Tennessean. Reach him at [email protected] and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @paulskrbina.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Jayden Bailey's life honored with Tennessean courage award