STARS

Aaliyah “Grace” Locklear is an outgoing, smiley, beautiful, rambunctious, and joyful girl who loves to swing, slide and build castles with kinetic sand. To know her is to love her. Grace’s journey began when she was adopted at four days old and came home from the hospital with a strange birthmark on her stomach. Her parents began asking the doctors what could be wrong and were repeatedly told it was an unconcerning birthmark. After persistent questioning from her parents, Grace was sent to UNC’s Children’s Hospital for genetic testing at 10 months old. She was diagnosed with Neurofibromatosis (NF1), a genetic disorder that causes tumors to grow in the body on nerve endings. Her “birthmark” was in fact a tumor, but benign.

At 22 months, Grace’s first optic glioma, a tumor developing on her optic nerve, was identified through an MRI. Grace began her first regimen of chemotherapy, which she has been on for over half her life. Grace deals with many struggles daily, but even on her worst days, she continues to radiate her love and joy. At her weekly chemotherapy visits, she loves interacting with the volunteers, patients, and staff, playing with her dog Elsa and cat Oliver, being tickled by her older brother, singing and dancing, and being the life of the party. Each obstacle faced is manageable by placing our faith over our fears.

Grace is now in full remission and recently had her port taken out. Her family is so grateful to JUST TRYAN IT and the many organizations that helped to support them over the many years Grace was in treatment. Grace was the 2020 Face of the Race in Chapel Hill and most recently came back to attend the 2025 Chapel Hill race.