Dailey Bailey: A Teenager With an Incurable Disease Hosted Her Own Prom

There’s a 14-year-old girl in Wisconsin named Jerika Bolen, and she has an incurable genetic disease called spinal muscular atrophy type two. It means she’s pretty much immobile, she’s had over 30 surgeries, and she has chronic pain.

But this past Friday, she celebrated her life at a community prom thrown in her honor. And listen to this next part, because it’s pretty intense: The whole thing went down one month before the physician-assisted suicide she has planned.

So you know, Jerika is totally at peace with her decision. She told the local newspaper that she’s only sad for the people she’s going to leave behind, because of the way they will feel.

Quote, “I realized I’m going to be in a better place, and I’m not going to be in this terrible pain. I’ve been working on it and thinking about it for way longer than anyone else has . . . I’m super happy and I don’t have to think about anything bad at the moment.”

So on Friday, Jerika rocked a gown and purple hair, was escorted to a limo by paramedics, and was crowned Prom Queen by hundreds of people at a huge dance. Her family set up a GoFundMe page to raise $33,000 for the whole thing.

Unfortunately, they’re going to shut down the ventilator Jerika uses at the end of August, and she’ll just be put on morphine.

But as sad as this all is, you have to applaud how courageous this amazing girl is.