FRISCO, Texas — She’s never been on that stage, never had to do the interviews, never even had to do the "pageant walk" before, but Lluvia Alzate is practicing hard for her first attempt at one of the state’s biggest pageants of the year. And it's for a cause that couldn’t be more personal to her.

Alzate, who lives in Houston, stopped by Frisco this week to make final preparations and do some last-minute training for her pageant debut at the Miss Texas USA pageant next weekend.

“My main focus is really making sure I have the interview portion down,” said Alzate.

The recent college graduate and real estate agent only tried pageantry at the beginning of this year. Before that, she said it wasn’t something she’d ever seriously considered.

However, a lot of things changed in her life just a few short years ago.

Alzate said she moved to the United States with her mother and two siblings from Colombia at a very young age. Over the years, she said she and her mom, Fanny, had grown extremely close.

As Alzate was entering her 20s, she said her mom began having some strange symptoms that started as simple muscle cramps but continued to escalate. About two and a half years ago, as things continued to get worse and after doctors had ruled out just about everything else, she said they got the diagnosis that changed everything.

“It slowly progressed into muscle weakness and then slurred speech, and then that’s when they detect: 'ok, you have ALS,'” said Alzate.

According to the ALS Association, "ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.’ The illness is often referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease after the famous professional baseball player who came down with it and brought the illness into the wider public view. There is no cure for ALS and it eventually leads to death."

Alzate said she knew little about the disease as her mother’s diagnosis came in. Like many, she really only knew of it from the ALS ice bucket challenge that took social media by storm in the mid-2010s. 

Alzate quickly moved into the roll of full-time caregiver for her mom, though, and learned everything about the illness that she could.

“I’ve always been really close with her so it’s been really hard seeing her go through that,” said Alzate. “It’s not easy.”

However, Alzate said she also knew she had to keep working for herself too; that she wanted her mother to see her achieve her dreams. So, she completed her degree this spring and walked across the stage for graduation as her mom watched on from her wheelchair. She also got her real estate certification to begin her career.

It was in January, though, that Alzate decided to step outside of her comfort zone and do something even bigger to help ALS patients like her mom and the caregivers that look after them: she would pursue the title of Miss Texas USA.

Since then, Alzate said she’s been training as much as she can to give the pageant as good of an attempt as she can muster.

“Now I’m like, 'what did I get myself into?'” said Alzate with a laugh as she went over the list of skills she’s had to learn.

But win or lose, Alzate believes the bigger reason for her pageant run will make it all worth it.

“I just saw it as an amazing opportunity to shine a light on this cause, just 'cause it’s something that means so much to me,” she said, adding that she hopes to also help other care givers along the way. “We could just uplift each other and just really help each other because at the end of the day, you’re not alone.”

Alzate will compete with the other contestants at the pageant in Houston starting July 1.