Aliyana McCrary has long been a pageant girl. She’s 13 now, but her grandmother Jacqueline McCrary got her started when she was only 2 years old. At first, the pageant world was something she did for her grandmother. Now, she loves it herself.
Aliyana is hoping to compete in the East Coast USA Pageant’s national finals in July. Haneefah McCrary, Aliyana’s mother, launched a crowdfunding page to raise money for Aliyana’s registration fees and gown. If they surpass their fund-raising goal, Haneefah said, their Bucks County family will donate the excess money to the Sickle Cell Foundation. Aliyana was diagnosed with the disease shortly after birth.
Sickle cell disease causes misshapen red blood cells that carry smaller amounts of oxygen than their normal, round counterparts. It is an inherited disease that most commonly affects African Americans, though it also is found in people of Hispanic, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean ancestry.
Aliyana, who lives in Falls Township, often experiences headaches, labored breathing and pain crises — a severe attack due to malformed cells blocking blood vessels. But faculty members at William Penn Middle School in Yardley, where Aliyana is finishing eighth grade, say that she’s optimistic, sweet, responsible and outgoing. Nancy Castner, her nurse at the school, describes her as someone who doesn’t let pain stop her from smiling.
Leave a Reply