Being diagnosed with cancer might have people giving up on life and wondering why it had to happen to them. But cancer patient Lauren Hill is attempting to fight for as long as she can. That fight includes continuing to play basketball and turn her story from one of great sorrow into something others can find inspirational.
It needs to be made clear, Lauren Hill will likely die of cancer before this time next year. The 19-year-old has an aggressive and especially enigmatic form of brain cancer that few people even know how to fight. According to USA Today , that hasn’t kept Lauren from making sure she lives whatever life she has left to the fullest. For Hill, that means she continues to play for her small St. Joseph College team even as the spotlight on her grows bigger.
The shy blonde student, who simply wanted to play the sport she loves while getting an education in rural Ohio has become something of a national phenomenon. She has gained notoriety because she isn’t simply laying down and accepting her fate. In between games, the star player goes television and radio interviews and then has to rest because her disease and the drugs she takes to prolong her life cause her a great deal of fatigue.
Lauren Hill’s cancer is going to claim her sooner than later, but before it does she’s going to get in one last game. The NCAA has made a special exception for Hill and her team, so they can play this final game closer to where Lauren lives. This will make it easier to deal with the cancer and still get her minutes in. Those minutes mean more than they used to, when she thought she’d be back on the court every couple of days.
Her first college game will now be her last college game, and it was moved up not only in location but also in date. The game was original scheduled for November 15 but St. Joseph College and it’s opponent, Hiram College agreed to play two weeks earlier, on November 2 . The contest will now be played at Xavier’s Cintas Center and the more than 10,000 seats available have already been sold out.
This is the story of something larger than a freshman basketball star wanting to get on the court and get her team a win. This star is serving as a reminder to call victims of the disease they can still fight. Because of that Lauren Hill and her cancer will be remembered for a long time.
