Ohio College Moves Up First Basketball Game to Accommodate Terminally Ill Player

Lauren Hill will put on her jersey for her first – and last – college game next month

Published on October 21, 2014 03:45 PM

Photo: Courtesy Mount Saint Joseph University

Lauren Hill probably won’t score the most points at Mount Saint Joseph University’s first basketball game of the season – but she will undoubtedly be the star player.

Hill, 19, will participate in her first – and last – college basketball game on Nov. 2, a game the NCAA agreed to move up after her team learned Hill is not expected to live past December, due to an aggressive brain tumor.

“The roar of the crowd, the bouncing of the balls and the squeaking of the shoes – I just can’t wait to be on this court in a basketball uniform with the number 22,” Hill told WKRC in Cincinnati.

Hill’s upbeat spirit has captivated the students and faculty at the Ohio school, which recently moved the game to a bigger venue to accommodate all the people who are eager to come and cheer her on, Cincinnati.com reports.

“I never gave up for a second, even when they told me I had a terminal diagnosis,” Hill told WKRC of the attitude she adopted after her initial diagnosis last fall. “I never for a second thought about sitting down and not living life anymore.”

The team’s first game was scheduled for Nov. 15, but Hiram College agreed to play it earlier than originally scheduled to help Hill fulfill her dying wish.

As Hill’s days draw to a close, she and her family keep a positive attitude about their time together – and what lies ahead.

“I’m not scared of leaving,” Hill said through tears. “What I worry about are the people I’m leaving behind.”