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Tag: Lauren Hill

  • Lauren Hill, Mount St. Joseph University Basketball Player, Dies at 19–Memorial Set for Monday

    Lauren Hill, the Mount St. Joseph University freshman who so desperately wanted to play basketball, has died of cancer. Diagnosed during her senior year in high school with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glimoma (DIPG), a terminal form of cancer, Hill was told she had months–possibly only weeks–to live.

    Determined not to allow cancer to halt her plans, Lauren Hill became an inspiration as well as advocate for cancer research. And she got to play basketball, too.

    Hill delayed hospice care so she could play in a November 2nd basketball game for Mt. St. Joseph after the NCAA allowed the school to move the game up by a few weeks so Lauren Hill could join her team on the court.

    When number 22 appeared and did her lay-up, the crowd went wild.

    According to the Washington Post, Lauren Hill told everyone in the sold-out arena how excited she was to be there.

    “Today has been the best day I ever had,” she said.

    Lauren Hill’s passing on April 10th has inspired a huge outpouring of love and support on Twitter. LeBron James wrote a heartfelt tribute, broken up into several Tweets.

    The Cincinnati Reds honored Lauren Hill on the day she passed away.

    Certainly no one is mourning the passing of Lauren Hill more than her family, her friends, and her teammates. Her time on earth was much too short, but the impact she made in that short time was astounding.

  • Lauren Hill: Cancer Won’t Stop Her Fight For A Cure

    Lauren Hill of Lawrenceburg, Ind. has given far more to us than perhaps even she realizes.

    The 19-year-old, who is dying of cancer, has proven that it is not the length of life that gives it meaning but rather the quality.

    Hill challenges others to make their life meaningful, no matter what obstacles we find ourselves facing.

    It wasn’t easy.

    “One January night, I was having a meltdown,” said Hill. “I asked God if I could do anything. I didn’t know what He sent me here for. I wanted to know what He sent me here for. Whatever you sent me here for, I’m ready to do.”

    Lauren found her calling in spreading the word about her rare form of cancer, called Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma or DIPG.

    Hill and her family found that because the sickness was so rare, research for this kind of cancer is terribly underfunded.

    “There is such desperate need for research and funding and new drugs to battle this thing,” said Lisa Hill, Lauren’s mother. “Families should not have to go through this.”

    Indeed Lauren is right when she adds “nobody should have to go through” what she is experiencing.

    But Lauren Hill is taking the time, what precious time she has left, to raise awareness.

    She said of her cause, “I told (God) I’d take every opportunity to speak for the kids who can’t speak.”

    People are not only listening to Lauren, but they are donating.

    There have been a growing number of benefits for the Mount Saint Joseph University basketball player, and it’s reported that as of Sunday, more than $400,000 has been raised in Hill’s honor.

    “I want to be the next Susan G. Komen,” Hill said.

    The Susan G. Komen Foundation was founded two years after the death of its namesake, a woman who passed at just 33 years of age due to brain cancer.

    Since then, it has raised more than one and a half billion dollars for breast cancer research.

    Perhaps one Thanksgiving weekend decades from now, persons will be able to look back and thank Lauren Hill for her selflessness, which could very well light a spark that leads to a cure for her unique form of cancer.

  • Lauren Hill’s Cancer Is Starting To Take Its Toll

    Lauren Hill’s cancer is taking its toll on her body. Just two weeks after the Mount St. Joseph freshman made the first score for her team’s basketball season, it has been revealed that Hill has gotten significantly weaker. On Tuesday, November 18, Hill spoke at a ceremony in her school’s gym. She opened up about how her sickness has affected her since the inspiring match between Mount St. Joseph and Hiram. “The game is sort of out of sight, out of mind,” Lauren said. “You know how I say, ‘Live in the moment?’ That game was two weeks ago, and I’m not worried about the future, either. I’m just worried about spending time with my family right now and the holidays and trying to get to Thanksgiving and just living in the moment.”

    With her condition worsening, doctors have said that they don’t expect Hill to make it until Christmas. However, Hill and her family are facing it head on. “You’re surrounded by death. There’s no other way to say it,” said Lauren’s mom, Lisa Hill. “You can’t let your head move forward and think of the end or what’s coming next because it will take you to dark places. So you really do have to stay in the moment or it will eat you up, you won’t get out of bed, and that’s not a choice right now.”

    The inoperable tumor plaguing Hill has left the right side of her body weak and she has resorted to using a wheelchair to move around. “Toward the latter part of the day, you’ll see her more in her wheelchair because her legs are weaker so she has a hard time moving,” Lisa said.

    When asked about whether her daughter will play again, Lisa answered, “I don’t know. I would probably say it’s maybe not realistic, but you never know on the day. So if she’s got really high spirits and her body’s doing what it’s supposed to be doing, who knows?”

  • Leah Still, the 4-Year-Old Daughter of Cincinnati Bengals’ Devon Still, Brings Inspiration in Her Fight Against Cancer

    Leah Still, the four-year-old daughter of Cincinnati Bengals‘ Devon Still, who is battling cancer, brought a ray of hope to the Cincinnati-Cleveland game Thursday night, despite the defeat her daddy’s team suffered.

    Before the game, Devon shared about what it meant to have his daughter on hand for her first NFL game.

    “Having her finally have the chance to come out here and feeling good health-wise… is going to be a great feeling,” Still told Cincinnati’s 9 On Your Side Thursday afternoon before the game.

    “I’ve learned to keep my emotions intact as time has gone on — as everything has happened with my daughter. I know everything is going to be pretty emotional.”

    Fans on both sides of Ohio were united in cheering on the little girl with the big heart. As Devon warmed up, cameras caught the twosome exchanging sweet waves with each other.

    “It just brought a smile to my face,” Devon told the NFL Network following game.

    Little Leah has been undergoing treatment at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia since June, so her homecoming was extra sweet.

    “I always look forward to those feelings whether I’m traveling back to Philadelphia or she’s coming out here,” Still said Thursday. “Just to see her running to my arms is always a great feeling.”

    Leah wasn’t just there to watch her dad play football. The Bengals decided to sell Devon’s No. 75 jerseys for $100, with proceeds going to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital for pediatric cancer research. They ended up selling 14,945 jerseys for a total of $1.3 million. Leah was there to accept the check on behalf of other children like her who are afflicted with pediatric cancer.

    “Today is going to be a bunch of good emotions just knowing that my daughter is there and that the check presentation is because of her,” Still said.

    Dressed in the uniform of her beloved Ben-Gals cheerleaders, which they had specially made for her complete with her dad’s No. 75 in glitter on the front, Leah stood next to another hometown hero, Lauren Hill, who is dying of brain cancer and played her first and last college basketball game on Sunday.

    Devon said seeing his daughter standing alongside Hill was probably the highlight of the evening.

    “I can tell by the she was smiling on the jumbotron that she had a lot of fun up there. I’m pretty sure she’s going to tell me all about her day meeting the cheerleaders and getting to be in the press box,” Devon said.

    Devon said he’s proud of his girl. Surely Cleveland joins all of Cincinnati in being proud of her, as well.

    “These past couple days made her day. You have no idea. I haven’t seen my daughter smile this much in a long time. I do appreciate everyone chipping in to help put a smile on her face,” he said. “She loves the camera. She thinks she’s a movie star.”

  • Lauren Hill Has Cancer, Gets Her Own Wheaties Box

    Lauren Hill received a special surprise on Wednesday, November 6. A special package arrived for the college freshman after attending basketball practice. Inside was a Wheaties box with her picture on it. As far as she knows, it’s just a one box deal. But considering her inspiring story, it wouldn’t be a surprise if more people want their own Lauren Hill Wheaties box.

    Back in high school, Hill committed to play basketball for Division III team Mount St. Joseph in Cincinnati. But before she could even play her first game for the team, she was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. Hill was told by doctors that she will only have until December to live.

    Knowing that her dream was to play college basketball, Mount St. Joseph and Hiram College decided to move a match previously scheduled on November 15 to a closer date in order for Hill to play. The match happened last Sunday, November 2 at Xavier University.

    Hill scored the first points of the game and the college basketball season after she scored off a teammate’s assist 17 seconds into game. A crowd of 10,000 came out in support of Hill, and were cheering as the terminally-ill freshman was subbed out of the game.

    Mount St. Joseph won the match 66-55.

    Talking about the experience, Hill told ESPN, “I never thought I would play on a college court, put my feet on the floor and feel the vibration of the crowd. This game has been amazing, and everything that happened today was amazing. This is a really good day.”

    Hill is hoping she could participate in Mount St. Joseph’s next game on November 21.

    As for role as the new face of Wheaties, she’s more than thrilled. “I said, ‘Oh my gosh, wait till Dad sees this,’” she told WKRC-TV.

    Other athletes that have appeared on the Wheaties box include Michael Jordan, Lou Gehrig, Brett Favre, and Muhammad Ali.

  • Lauren Hill Has Cancer, Makes The Most Of Time She Has Left

    A teenager who was diagnosed with a rare and deadly cancer about a year ago is directing her energies at raising funds and awareness of her disease. Doctors last year initially told 19-year-old Lauren Hill that she had a year to live, and the teen is making the most of her time by playing on her basketball team to spread awareness of the form of brain cancer she has, Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma.

    Despite the fact that Hill has a brain tumor the size of a lemon that is growing every day, she was determined to play for her college basketball team from Mount St. Joseph University. “I wanted to wear that jersey and feel like a superhero again because that’s what I feel when I put on the jersey and that number,” said Hill.

    — 10 News (@WTSP10News) October 26, 2014

    Her first game with Mount St. Joseph is coming up on November 2, when her team will go up against Hiram College at Xavier University’s Cintas Center. The game was moved from later in November by the NCAA in order to give Hill a chance to join it, before her disease can take her life. Xavier University reportedly offered its 10,000-seater arena so more people could attend the game, and tickets were sold out in less than a day.

    “I’m spreading awareness on a level that’s never been spread before. I really hope it’s going to bring a change to the world. Being able to have this opportunity is all I’ve wanted and prayed for,” said Hill.

    Hill is also trying to spread awareness about pediatric cancer in the hopes that donations will fund research that will give others a chance to beat the disease. Many have commended her courage to continue fighting with such little time left, including Cincinnati Bengals player Devon Still, whose 4-year-old daughter has pediatric cancer and who has worked with his team to raise $1 million for pediatric cancer treatment.

    “She understands her purpose. In her 19 years of being here on Earth, she’s done a lot more than a lot of older people have done,” said Still of Hill.

  • Lauren Hill, College Basketball Player Dying of Terminal Brain Cancer, Set to Play ‘One Last Game’

    Lauren Hill, a college basketball player diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, is set to play in “one last game”.

    Tickets sold out in 30 minutes for the game scheduled to be played at Xavier University’s Cintas Center on the afternoon of Sunday, Nov. 2.

    Diagnosed with pediatric cancer, Hill has an aggressive brain tumor that is quickly taking her life.

    When she signed on to play basketball with Mount Saint Joseph College in Cincinnati, Ohio, she didn’t know about the cancer.

    With doctor’s fearing she may not even live until December, her coaches petitioned the NCAA to move the first game of the season to an earlier date so that Hill could play. The NCAA granted the request and the game was moved to the larger Cintas Center to accommodate the larger than expected crowd.

    The afternoon, which is likely to be memorable for so many and on so many levels, is becoming more than just an average college basketball game.

    Brooke Desserich, founder of The Cure Starts Now, a charity that focuses on trying to find a cure for the most aggressive cancers in an effort to cure all cancer, is organizing congruent events on the afternoon of the game.

    “Not just the basketball game, but a few presentations that are going to happen during halftime. I’ve been sworn to secrecy about what’s going to happen, but everyone really wants to show their support, and I’m sure that it’s going to be an incredibly inspiring game,” Desserich said.

    Proceeds from the sold-out game will go to The Cure Starts Now.

    As Hill practices for the big game, the young player is finding support from so many.

    Cincinnati Bengal Devon Still, whose daughter, Leah, is also battling cancer, stopped by practice and surprised Hill on Tuesday morning.

    In Hill’s native Greendale, Indiana, commissioners and the mayor declared Nov. 2 as Lauren Hill Day.

    “It’s just a great opportunity to spread awareness, and I’m really happy to be making a difference. A much bigger difference than I thought I could have ever made. That’s why you have to never give up and keep trying and keep chasing your dreams,” Hill said after the proclamation was made on Tuesday evening.

    Despite all of the emotions that Hill must be experiencing, she is consumed by one.

    “Excitement to step out on that floor and be wearing that jersey and those shoes and that uniform and hearing the crowd and feeling the floor vibrate and the rumble in your chest when the roar comes. I’m just excited for it. Beyond excited,” she said.