Human Interest

Terminally Ill Basketball Player Lauren Hill, Who Played at NCAA Game, Dies

The college athlete spent quality time with her family and continued to raise money for cancer research before she died on Friday

Published on April 10, 2015 12:20 PM

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Lauren Hill, the 19-year-old terminally ill college athlete who tirelessly raised over $1.5 million for cancer research, died on Friday.

After Hill found out she had an inoperable brain tumor, the then-high school student didn’t let her diagnosis slow her down.

She co-founded the nonprofit The Cure Starts Now, played in a basketball game at her school, Mount St. Joseph University, and landed her picture on a Wheaties box – a feat typically reserved for Olympians.

In November, the NCAA agreed to move up a basketball game so that she could play in it after doctors gave her until December to live.

“She’s made an impact on the world, more so than me – more than I ever will do,” her coach Dan Benjamin told the Associated Press. “I’ve gotten so many emails and phone calls from all over the world. People are contacting me because they want to share her story.”

Even toward the very end of her life, Hill never gave up.

“Even though it’s sad, her courage brings out the best in people,” Mount St. Joseph president Tony Aretz told the AP. “She’s living with courage when a lot of people are afraid to live.”