Lauren Alaina Creates Memorable Experience for Seven-Year-Old Blind Fan

"AJ is still saying she's in his heart forever (with Jesus). He was so happy," shared the boy's mother, Heather.

Written by Lauren Laffer
Lauren Alaina Creates Memorable Experience for Seven-Year-Old Blind Fan
Lauren Alaina and AJ Hillebrand; Photo via Heather Hillebrand/Facebook

It’s not hard to fall in love with the bubbly and bright person that is 22-year-old Lauren Alaina. The “Doin’ Fine” singer has a way to make people feel at ease no matter the situation, and she did exactly that for seven-year-old AJ Hillebrand.

AJ, who has been blind since he was born, was waiting in the autograph line to meet Alaina with his mom, Heather, at the B100 Birthday Party Sunday (Aug.27) at the St. Joseph County Fairgrounds in South Bend, IN. As they reached the front of the line, without any prompting at all, Alaina knelt down to meet the young fan. In an instant, the singer had taken AJ’s hands and placed them on her face, allowing him to ‘see her.’

“My heart melted the fact that she already knew, or could just tell, literally made me tear up immediately,” Heather told Sounds Like Nashville. “The fact that she took so much time with him when she had a long line of people waiting was amazing.”

“AJ is still saying she’s in his heart forever (with Jesus). He was so happy,” she continued. “He was also super tired at this point in the day but he woke right up when she started talking to him. He is a very humble little boy. He is also young so he is just like ‘mommy, why is everyone talking about me?’ I tell him because he is a very special little boy and what Lauren Alaina took the time to do with you was very special. He just smiles really big and says ‘she kissed me.'”

The interaction was not lost on all that witnessed it. Brad King, a DJ at B100, later tweeted photos from the encounter to Alaina, to which she replied, “That little boy made my whole day. He’s a little angel. I love him.”

Heather was surprised to hear that Alaina had remembered the contact with her son, as the Georgia native had met with many fans during the day.

“I didn’t even know until the next day. I was so shocked and surprised. You hear things about it all the time but after all the people she met that day, I didn’t think she would remember him let alone say she loved him.”

The memory of Alaina connecting with her son is one Heather knows she won’t soon forget.

“AJ has been through so much in his 7 years with surgeries and struggles,” she shared. “Through it all, country music has been the thing to keep him happy and calm so for him to meet the people he hears on the radio and on his mp3 player makes me very happy for him. He talks about live music all the time and this was his first experience with it and he absolutely loved it.”