Lauren Hill, a 19-year-old basketball player at Mount Saint Joseph's College, died from pediatric cancer Friday morning.
According to the Associated Press, Hill was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor a little more than a year ago. She outlived her doctors' estimations and did wonders for cancer fundraising and awareness.
"Through Lauren's fundraising and advocacy efforts, she not only became a spotlight on the lack of funding for cancer research, but she most certainly has become a beacon guiding researchers for years to come," Brooke Desserich, who co-founded the Cure Starts Now foundation with Hill, told the AP.
Hill was a senior in high school who had committed to Mount Saint Joseph's when doctors first noticed her tumor, which they knew was a major problem. Hill did not let a tumor end her basketball career and neither did her school or the NCAA. They moved up Mount Saint Joseph's season opener by two weeks because of Hill's worsening condition.
Playing in front of a sold out arena at Xavier University, Hill scored the first point of the game, a layup with her left hand due to the tumor's crippling effects on the right side of her body. She fulfilled her dream of playing college basketball.
"It's a dream come true," she told the AP at the time. "To play on a college court, to put my foot down on the floor and hear the roar of the crowd - I just love it so much. I love basketball.
"Everything that happened today was amazing. I'm truly happy, it's a really good day."
The Cure Starts Now foundation has raised more than $1.5 million for pediatric cancer research and figures to keep going.
"She's made an impact on the world, more so than me -- more than I ever will do," Hill's, Dan Benjamin, told the AP. "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."
