Girl, 11, with cystic fibrosis to sing at Bills-Jets game
Brianna Collichio sang the national anthem in front of 70,000-plus fans before a New York Jets' game at MetLife Stadium last December. Three months earlier, she'd done the same thing before a Jets' preseason game. Her stirring rendition elicited such a loud ovation from the crowd that the team immediately asked her back for that December game.
The 11-year-old from Spencerport is scheduled to belt out "The Star-Spangled Banner" for a third time in East Rutherford, New Jersey, before Sunday's 1 p.m. regular-season finale between the Jets and the Buffalo Bills. Even though neither team is going to the playoffs, there should still be another big crowd.
But Brianna won't be nervous. She says she never has butterflies before performing.
"I’m not afraid because I’m never alone," Brianna says. "I know that Jesus is always by my side and he’ll never let me down."
Her strong Christian faith gives her confidence, but she also believes in herself because Brianna and her family think God gave her a gift so it can be shared. He gave her an uplifting voice that even cystic fibrosis can't silence. The fact that she has the incurable disease, which reduces her lung function, makes people marvel even more at the beauty and strength of her voice.
"You’re not supposed to be able to sing that well at her age, let alone when you’re battling a disease like that," said Elvio Fernandes, 44, the Rochester native and Daughtry band member who co-wrote and produced Brianna's new single, "Glow in the Dark," which was released earlier this month. "Her ability is nothing short of a miracle."
Finding her voice
Five years ago this month, Brianna's mother couldn't believe her ears. Colleen Collichio (pronounced co-leech-e-o) was decorating the Christmas tree with her daughter and Céline Dion's version of "O Holy Night" was playing. Then just 6 years old, Brianna started singing along.
"She belted out notes perfectly on pitch," Colleen recalled this week, sitting on a love seat in their home a few feet from where Brianna's vocal talent was first revealed that day. "I wasn't sure if I was hearing something and I said, 'Do that again.' "
Brianna did and Colleen was "blown away." She immediately called Richard Fink, a vocal coach that she and her husband, George, know. George has owned the Collichio School of Music in Spencerport for more than 40 years. He teaches guitar. Instrumentals are his specialty and he has released nine CDs nationally. Colleen used to be a singer, so Brianna has good genes.
Colleen had Brianna sing into the phone to Fink that day. "When can you come out?" Fink asked, knowing he wanted to work with her.
He and local singer/songwriter Johnny Cummings helped her write "On My Hands," Brianna's first single, released in March 2015. It was a true collaboration. It started with one melody a few years ago that Brianna was humming while being treated at Strong Memorial Hospital. Her mother overheard some lyrics that day, asked Brianna what she was singing and her daughter said it was just something that was in her head.
Every time that happened in the ensuing months, Colleen grabbed her phone, recorded it and sent it to Fink. They pieced parts together, reworked them and polished the lyrics. The result: An inspirational song that captures, in part, what Brianna goes through every day fighting cystic fibrosis.
What is CF?
Cystic fibrosis is a progressive, genetic disease that causes constant lung infections and limits the ability to breathe. According to the CF Foundation, more than 70,000 people worldwide have cystic fibrosis and about 1,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. About 75 percent of those happen by age 2.
There are about 180 people in the Rochester region with cystic fibrosis, Colleen Collichio said.
Cystic fibrosis occurs mainly in the lungs and pancreas but other organs may also be affected. Mucus in the lungs causes severe congestion and traps bacteria. In the pancreas, mucus prevents digestive enzymes from breaking down food so the body can absorb nutrients. Brianna has to take six enzyme pills just about every time she eats a meal.
"There’s a place for those who dream. A place I go when it gets hard to breathe. And every time I seem to fall I stand up taller than I was before. There’s a strength within my heart. A flame of hope that reaches to the stars. But who we are inside is hard to see without a guiding light. So just let it shine."
Those are the first few lines of "On My Hands."
Brianna was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis a few weeks after being born. None of her older siblings — brothers Louis, 31, and Georgie, 25, and sister, Sentina, 22 — has it. Her mother didn't know she was a carrier for cystic fibrosis until shortly before Brianna was born.
Her parents both grew up in Spencerport. They met at the Greece Assembly of God.
"Dealing with the disease every day is tough," Colleen says. "It's a high-maintenance disease."
In addition to the pills, the daily routine includes a high-calorie diet usually infused with weight-gaining shakes. Brianna also uses Albuterol and Symbicort inhalers for the antibiotics her body needs to combat infections. At least twice a day, she straps a RespirTech vest around her torso for 30 minutes. It's designed to shake up and loosen the jelly-like mucus inside her. Asked how she copes with the daily grind, Brianna shrugs as if it's no big deal.
"It's just something that I've always had to do, so I'm kind of used to it," she says.
Colleen has home-schooled Brianna since second grade. It's easier, to a degree, with the level of care she needs. She's also exposed to fewer germs than she would be from kids at school. If she's having a hard day, Brianna says, "I try my best to keep my mind off how I feel. I try to think happy thoughts, basically."
Singing often does the trick. But she's like a lot of other 11-year-olds, too. She likes playing with Legos, especially during a RespirTech session, and with the family's dog, Drummer. A new telescope was her favorite gift this Christmas. TobyMac is one of her favorite artists. She has listened to a lot of Michael Bublé this holiday season.
Brianna has performed in front of crowds numbering in the hundreds and the thousands, projecting her sweet voice in ballrooms and ballfields, from the famed Waldorf Astoria in New York City to Frontier Field.
She has become an attraction locally at the annual CF Christmas Ball. This year's seventh annual event was Dec. 17 at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center and is projected to raise more than $96,000 for the Just Breathe Foundation, which was inspired by Jenna Simonetti, 28, another Spencerport native. She was diagnosed at the age of 6.
Brianna has performed at that ball the past four years. "It's just kind of turning it all around and using (her singing ability) for good," Colleen Collichio said.
Boomer Esiason connection
The first time Brianna performed "On My Hands" live was at the Waldorf in February 2015. She was given the Michael Brennan Courage Award at the Boomer Esiason Foundation's annual "Booming Celebration to benefit CF." Esiason, 55, is the former NFL quarterback whose son Gunnar's battle against cystic fibrosis became public in 1993 when they appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated.Gunnar was almost 3 then. He's 25 now.
The Esiason connection came during a trying time for Colleen in 2014.
"I don't want to say I was running away from (cystic fibrosis). but I didn't want to focus on it," she said, recalling how the demands in care for daughter and Brianna's health had started to sap her emotionally and physically.
One particularly tear-filled night, she asked God to "help her understand." The next morning, she awakened with conviction and sent an email and video of Brianna singing to Esiason's foundation. A day later, organizers invited Brianna to sing the anthem at the Empire Challenge, a high school football all-star game on Long Island that's also an Esiason fundraiser.
Esiason gave Brianna the Michael Brennan Spirit Award that day. Several months later at the black-tie gala at the Waldorf, he introduced Brianna to the crowd, calling her a "shining example of what it means to live, breathe and succeed with cystic fibrosis. She fearlessly showcases her musical talents."
That's where a representative for the Jets saw her and invited her to that September 2015 preseason game.
"(Esiason) has just been so wonderful, the nicest guy you'd want to meet," Colleen Collichio said.
So has one of his friends. Joseph Dussich Jr., the CEO/president of one of the New York City area’s largest independently-owned janitorial, plastic and paper suppliers, has become a big fan of Brianna's spirit and talent and a supporter of her personally and professionally. She dedicated "Glow in the Dark" to him.
That song is a little faster and more upbeat compared to "On My Hands," but it carries a similar message, about persevering. People have noticed how Brianna won't let cystic fibrosis slow her down.
"I really want to inspire people," she said. "That's the whole reason I like to sing."
Tuned in
Fernandes, who became a full-time member of Daughtry only a few years ago, loves Brianna's tenacity.
"She's fearless and that's a trait a lot of entertainers don't have," he said. "The ones that do have it are usually successful because they go up on stage being fearless and take risk because they're not worrying."
Brianna also has a "great ear," Fernandes said, meaning she'll listen to instruction on what to do with a lyric or her voice and can sing it back exactly as desired. "She's a sponge. She absorbs. Her sense of rhythm is really good too and that's something a lot of young singers don't have," he said.
Brianna competed in the Starbright Rising Talent Festival in 2012-14 and has had a couple of tryouts with the TV showAmerica's Got Talent. The first was three years ago in the Baltimore area while the family visited a relative. "I have no idea why she didn't get called. People in the room stood up and cheered (after she performed)," Colleen said.
A year later, though, a producer did call and invited Brianna to Chicago. "When I took the call she was so sick I really didn't care," Colleen said. She is also leery of what Brianna sings. "I don't want her up there singing trashy songs," she said.
Although that Chicago trip didn't happen because of Brianna's health, she did try out for AGT again on another family trip New York City. Producers thought Brianna came off as too "shy and nervous," Colleen said.
Don't let those attempts, her website (briannacollichio.com) and her release of singles mislead you, said Colleen and George Collichio. The family isn't chasing fame and fortune. Their No. 1 concern is Brianna's health. That's challenging enough.
If Brianna can turn music into a career and it makes her happy, they're all for it. It's not something, however, that consumes them.
"We care about the cystic fibrosis world. We also want to do whatever we can with her talent to help (raise money)," said Colleen, who was diagnosed with uterine cancer in August and had a hysterectomy surgery in October. "It's about sharing her gift and being compassionate and sharing hope and joy."
And if Brianna is lucky enough to one day enjoy some fame, she'll stay humble. Not just because of her battle with cystic fibrosis. There was a recent conversation at the Collichio home accompanied by smiles but it wasn't really a joke.
"If your head ever gets too big for you, do you know what's going to happen?" Colleen asked her youngest child.
"You're going to get a big pin," Brianna said, "and pop it."
No matter what happens, she'll always come back to her first song and the moving lyrics and sentiment of her guiding light, "On My Hands."
"I believe that faith and truth and love will be my saving grace to fight through the pain. When it gets too hard to stand with one less footprint in the sand I will learn to walk on my hands. When it gets too hard to try, the angels will be by my side and I will learn to walk on my hands, on my hands."
JDIVERON@Gannett.com