An Indiana teen who inspired many as she took to the basketball court as she battled brain cancer has died.
Lauren Hill, 19, made national headlines in November when she played her first NCAA basketball game for Mount Saint Joseph University in Ohio, in what was called "One Last Game, WRTV reported.
Hill was told that the aggressive cancer would take her life by Christmas.
According to the Sporting News, Hill was diagnosed in December 2013 with DIPG. She wanted to play one last game, or her first college game before the illness would take away her balance and basketball ability.
She played what was supposed to be her last game on Nov. 2 in front of a packed house. The game had been rescheduled from mid-November to early in the month as her illness got worse. The game was originally an away game against Hiram College, but the NCAA and Hiram College agreed to move it up and to Xavier University, to handle the expected crowds, the Sporting News reported.
Hill started and scored the game's first and last baskets. She was able to appear in a few other games, but left the court and was named an honorary coach on Dec. 19. She was also named to an all-conference team and received an honorary doctorate, the Sporting News reported earlier this year.
Off the hardwood, Hill helped raise more than a million dollars in her Layup4Lauren fundraiser, WRTV reported.
She recently set a new goal of raising $2.2 million for research and treatment of DIPG, WTHR reported.
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