Joy is the one word that stands out when Debi and Pierre Grilo think about their daughter Annaleigh.
“There was always, there was a spark,” Pierre described. “When I think about her, I think of that."
Annaleigh was a born performer. Whether it was music or theatre, if there was a stage – she was on it.
“She was very creative,” Debi said. “Had a lot of courage to put herself out there in front of people. And when she walked in the room, she lit the room up."
But when Annaleigh was 16, she had some pain in her leg. Her mom took her to the hospital, where doctors discovered a tumor. She had osteosarcoma – a rare and vicious type of bone cancer.
“It's almost like a whiteout moment. When you hear the news, you're like — you just kind of, I don’t want to say black out, but you like whiteout,” Debi recalled. “It's like the light is in your face so bright you can't think, you can't hear.”
For two years, Annaleigh fought. She fought – despite having her leg amputated. She fought to graduate from high school.
But in 2020, Annaleigh passed away at just 18 years old.
After she died, her mom discovered a will on her cell phone, asking that the money she’d saved be donated to other kids battling osteosarcoma.
What Annaleigh didn’t know then was just how much that small request would grow.
Each year at Seacrest Country Day School in Naples – where Annaleigh went to school – they host the ‘Yellow Out’ volleyball game in her memory.
“I don't take anything for granted,” longtime friend Isabella Garcia said at this year’s event. “Being able to wake up in the morning and tell my parents that I love them is something that I'll never take for granted.”
Garcia started the event when Annaleigh was still alive. Since then, it's only gotten bigger.
Now, the money raised at the game goes to support MIB Agents , a non-profit that helps kids with Annaleigh’s type of bone cancer.
Between the annual games and other fundraising, her family has raised about $250,000 for the non-profit.
“I think what means so much to us is that it keeps Annaleigh's memory alive. And it honors her,” Debi said.
Most of all, it’s an example of what Annaleigh proved is possible: take something so painful and, somehow, find a way to find a positive.
“I think she's smiling down right now just happy that we can all come together as a community,” Garcia said.
“The fact that we're able to carry on her name and create something so powerful that supports people who suffered like she did, it means a lot to us,” Debi said. “It really does.”