GIRL IN CUSTODY Two students shot at L.A. middle school • World & Nation, 6A
MORE MEX THAN TEX, 2C
Pueblo Maya now open at Buford Village Way
Gwinnett Daily Post FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2018
in UNSTOPPABLE Abductee hotel robbery www.gwinnettdailypost.com
75 cents ©2018 SCNI
Vol. 48, No. 61
PEACHTREE CORNERS
Providence Christian sophomore Bailey Moody shares journey from cancer survivor to wheelchair basketball star
BY TREVOR MCNABOE
ID’d as Day
BY ISABEL HUGHES
trevor.mcnaboe@gwinnettdailypost.com
isabel.hughes@gwinnettdailypost.com
In spring 2012, 10-year-old Bailey Moody’s life was at a junction. She was an active girl, one that on a typical weekend was playing doubleheaders in softball, multiple tennis matches and basketball games. It was unfathomable to her father and mother, Patrick and Tiffany Moody, that in a matter of days their daughter would be diagnosed with osteosarcoma, an aggressive cancerous tumor that originates at the end of a growth bone. “We initially thought it was just her being sore from being so active,” Patrick Moody said. “Often, osteosarcoma is misdiagnosed for a long period of time and passed off as growing pains in adolescents.” Patrick’s sister, a doctor of physical therapy, examined Bailey Moody’s leg and said the family needed to get her to an emergency room to get an X-ray scan immediately because it could be a tumor. His sister’s initial diagnosis was correct, and Bailey Moody was diagnosed with stage four osteosarMORE ONLINE coma. Visit gwinnettdailypost.com “My sisfor more photos. ter prompting us to take her in and get it checked out saved her life,” Patrick Moody said. Bailey Moody began chemotherapy and had three options of how doctors would remove the cancerous tumor. The first choice was a limb salvage, which would replace the inside of her leg with metal. One reason she did not like that option was that, despite the leg looking the same on the outside, it would not have the same functionality as before. “Had I chosen that, I would not have been able to run again, and the only physical activity I really could have done was walk,” Bailey Moody said. The second option — an above the knee amputation — didn’t sit well with her either because of the limited opportunity of being active. Instead, she went with the most rarely chosen option called rotationplasty. In the procedure, her knee and the bottom portion of her leg would be removed, rotated and attached at the thigh. “I didn’t really have a thought process about it. I immediately knew that was the decision I wanted to make,” Bailey Moody said. “I knew that would give me the most function to do tasks like riding a bike or playing in the ocean.” For Bailey Moody, it was an easy decision, but for her parents, it was a bit tougher. “We wanted it to be her decision, and I think we as parents sometimes underestimate our 10-year-olds and their ability to make decisions,” Patrick Moody said. “It’s tough to wrap your head around creating what some see as a deformity in order to have it be a solution.” Fast forward six years and Bailey Moody is now a 16-year-old sophomore at Providence Christian Academy. In the time since her recovery, she has transformed into one of the bright and rising talents in the U.S.
Gwinnett police have identified 20-year-old Christina Day as the woman who was snatched at a Peachtree Corners hotel early Wednesday morning. Around 2:10 a.m., police responded to the Crossland Economy Studios off Jimmy Carter Boulevard after receiving reports of a carjacking, according to Sgt. Jake Smith, a spokesman for the Christina Day department. There, they encountered a male victim, who said a man came to his and Day’s door with a gun and demanded personal items and his car keys. After taking the items, the victim told police that the suspect “removed the female victim from the room at gunpoint” and left with Day in the male victim’s car, Smith said. The victim then ran to a nearby Waffle House and called police. See DAY, Page 9A
Bailey Moody has transitioned from regular basketball to wheelchair basketball over the past six years. (Photo: NWBA)
Senate resolution scolds NFL over rejection of ad Shafer commercial to shame ‘censorship’ BY CURT YEOMANS curt.yeomans@gwinnettdailypost.com
all this.” She is the second youngest woman in the program and is one of 17 competing for 12 spots and a chance to be a part of the team heading to Hamburg, Germany, in August
The state Senate passed a resolution filed by Sen. David Shafer, R-Duluth, that denounces the NFL for rejecting a Super Bowl ad from a veterans group that addressed the controversy surrounding players kneeling during the National Anthem on Thursday. In a statement released by the Senate, Shafer called the NFL’s refusal to run AMVETS’ David Shafer ad censorship. The ad featured a military honor guard holding the American flag with the text #PleaseStand across the top of the screen. The NFL said the ad was rejected because it made a political statement. Shafer, who is running for lieutenant governor, wasn’t buying it and filed Senate Resolution 673 on Wednesday. It was passed the next day. “I was skeptical when NFL officials tried to justify the organized disrespect for our flag by citing free speech,” Shafer said. “But their shabby treatment of AMVETS exposes the hypocrisy of that
See MOODY, Page 9A
See SHAFER, Page 2A
Bailey Moody is pictured above left during one of her rehabilitation sessions following the amputation of her right leg back in 2012. Above right, Bailey Moody is pictured during Homecoming Night for Providence Christian Academy. (Special Photos)
Women’s wheelchair basketball program. “This all has come so fast,” Bailey Moody said. “I went to a U.S. development camp in November, and the coach pulled me aside and suggested that I apply to participate in the selection camp this upcoming year. It’s been good, but I’m still processing
Local officials face first Goundhog Day without Gen. Beauregard Lee
BY CURT YEOMANS
curt.yeomans @gwinnettdailypost.com
For years, Groundhog Day in Gwinnett County has meant people crowding around Gen. Beauregard Lee’s little mansion at the Yellow River Game Ranch in Lilburn in the early morning hours to find out how soon spring would arrive. But this year will be different. There will be no chants of “Go Beau” or bowls full
of hash browns at the ranch, which closed in December. After the ranch shut its doors, the county’s famous, furry weather forecaster moved south to Dauset Trails Nature Center in Butts County. In other words, there will be no Beau in Gwinnett this Groundhog Day, and local officials said they have mixed feelings about it. “Well, we are quite sad that General Lee isn’t in Gwinnett any more, (but) more importantly, (we’re)
MORE ONLINE Want to know if Gen. Beauregard Lee saw his shadow? Visit gwinnettdailypost.com.
very happy that he has found a new home,” Explore Gwinnett Executive Director Lisa Anders said. With the ranch’s closing still fresh in people’s mind, this will be the first Groundhog Day in Gwinnett County without the
General Beauregard Lee does not see his shadow on Groundhog Day at the Yellow River Game Ranch in Lilburn in 2015. This year will mark the first time that Lee has not made his annual Groundhog Day weather prediction from Gwinnett County, since he moved to a facility in Butts County after the ranch abruptly closed in December. (Photo: Chris Roughgarden)
See LEE, Page 2A
gwinnettdailypost.com
INSIDE Classified .......7B
Horoscope .....4A
Nation ........... 6A
Sports ............1B
Comics...........7A
Local ............. 3A
Obituaries ......8A
Weather .........4A
Crossword .....7A
Lottery........... 4A
Perspectives ..5A
Weekend........1C
Stay connected with the Daily Post online, where you can submit news tips, browse photo galleries and sign up to receive headlines digitally at gwinnettdailypost.com/newsletter. Send us engagements, wedding, births or anniversaries under “Submit your news” on the home page.