Scholar-athlete runs for cancer research

At mile 22 of the New York City Marathon, Madison Bailey needed a boost.

The Manhattan College softball player who had spent so much time leading up to the Nov. 2 marathon training and fundraising for cancer research was struggling to complete the last few miles of the race through strong winds and chilly temperatures.

Then the lift she had provided for so many people was reciprocated.

Bailey’s softball teammates jumped into the street and started running with her. 

“I’m not sure if that is allowed,” Bailey said. “Probably not, but that wasn’t going to stop them, anyway. I’ve had the opportunity to play with amazing girls, and the amount of support was overwhelming.”

Her teammates’ outpouring of support gave Bailey the boost she needed to finish her first full marathon, in just under six hours (5:57:37).

“It’s absolutely incredible,” she said of crossing the finish line. “I can’t even put into words how it feels.” 

Bailey’s mother, Penny, was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in Dec. 2010 at the age of 47. That sparked Madison — who was always a standout athlete and runner, but never a marathoner — to begin raising awareness for the disease through the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Team in Training. The Phoenix native, who turned 20 in October, ran the San Diego Half Marathon shortly after her mother received her diagnosis, then set her sights on New York after coming to Manhattan College two years ago.

“She was always there for me, sitting on the sidelines at my games with no hair,” Bailey said of her mother, who has been in remission for three years. “I love her to death. She’s probably my best friend.”

Said Penny Bailey: “To have a parent with cancer, she was angry about it. She’s always been a do-gooder kind of kid, so it was like, ‘What can I do to help?’ That’s just the stuff she’s always done.”

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