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About Us
Our foundation was co-founded and inspired by Lauren Hill #22
About LaurenLauren HillInspirational HeroBorn October 1, 1995 Died April 10, 2015 (age 19) Diagnosed
About LaurenLauren HillInspirational HeroBorn October 1, 1995 Died April 10, 2015 (age 19) Diagnosed
Lauren Hill, a resident of Greendale, Indiana attended Lawrenceburg High. During her High School career Lauren not only excelled academically, but also showed her athletic ability by playing 3 years of soccer and 4 years of basketball.
On November 20, 2013 in the early basketball season of Lauren's senior year she was diagnosed with an inoperable and terminal brain tumor called Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG). Determined to let nothing stop her from playing her senior season of basketball she continued to play through radiation and trial chemo. She inspired Lawrenceburg and the surrounding schools as she continued to play with adversity, grace, determination and never give up attitude. Lauren, like most high school athletes, dreamed of playing basketball at the collegiate level. Prior to diagnosis on October 1, 2013 she accepted to play basketball for Mount Saint Joseph University as long as she could have jersey #22.
Lauren graduated in 2014 and attended Mount Saint Joseph University for the fall semester in 2014. In October 2014, Lauren received MRI results that her tumor was growing and her life expectancy was reduced to 10 weeks. Her battle with cancer became public when the NCAA agreed to move up the season opener against Hiram College two weeks prior from the original date so Lauren could play before tumor symptoms caused her to become more physically challenged.
The strong public interest in Lauren's first college game caused the game to be moved to a bigger venue on Xavier University's Campus. The Cintas Center sold 10,250 seats in less than an hour for the big game on November 2, 2014. Lauren's story continued to spread through media and went global. Lauren utilized the media platform to become the voice of DIPG by spreading awareness and raising much-needed research funds to get better medical treatments for future children.
By December 31, 2014 she had helped raise over $1 million dollars for brain cancer research through The Cure Starts Now Foundation, where she was named the foundation's Chief Motivational Officer. Lauren ended her collegiate career playing in 4 games and scoring 10 points. When Lauren could no longer physically play the game she continued to support her MSJ Basketball Team by becoming an honorary coach. Lauren was the first basket made of the NCAA 2014/2015 season and passed just 3 days after the final basket was made on April 10, 2015 raising over $1.4 million dollars at the time of her death and to date more than $2.7 million dollars has been raised in her honor to support and fund research grants. Her family and friends continue to the fight to assist families and fund research in her honor. We are now HER VOICE!
Help us continue the fight in Lauren's honor and all the other children who lost their lives by making a donation.
Videos About Lauren's Story:
- Original local story that went viral - One Last Game by Local 12's Brad Johanson and Eric Gerhardt
- ESPN Story by Tom Rinaldi - Lauren Hill One More Game
- SC Features Lauren Hill by Tom Rinaldi
- Still Fighting by WCPO Tonya O'Rourke
- Coverage of Lauren's Public Funeral Service by WCPO
- The project Lauren wanted completed so badly.... her documentary of her journey with DIPG - PlayFor22 by Brad Johansen and Eric Gerhardt from Local 12
- One year after Lauren by WCPO Tonya O'Rourke
- ESPY for Best Moment 2015 and Local coverage of ESPYs
High School Career Awards
- Academic
- Athletic
- Academic Medallion 3 years
- Lettered 3 times in Basketball
- Jack Anderson Award 3 years
- Eye of the Tiger Award 2014
- Member of The National Honor Society
- US Marine Corps Distinguished Athlete Award
- Callaway Memorial Scholarship
- Robert W. Meyer – Exemplary Pride & Commitment
- Tim "Pup" Johnson Scholarship
- H.P. Harrison – Outstanding Mental Attitude
- Mount Saint Joseph University – Dean's Scholarship
- McKain Family Athletic Memorial Scholarship
- Mount Saint Joseph University Grant
Career Highlights and Awards
- Pat Summit Courage Award
- Honorary Doctorate Degree for Humane Letters from MSJU
- Wilma Rudolph Courage Award
- Honored at the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame
- 2015 ESPY Award for Best Moment
- First Team All HCAC 2015 – Courage and Outstanding Leadership
- 2014 ESPNW Impact 25 Honoree
- Heartland Women's Basketball All Conference Award
- NFL - Ed Brock Courage Award
- 2014 Spirit of Cincinnati USA Ambassador Award
- Ohio Governors Courage Award
- 2014 National Guard – Outstanding Character & Values
- 2014 Heartland Inspiration Award
- State of Indiana Sagamore of the Wabash Award
- Named Chief Motivational Officer - The Cure Starts Now Foundation
- 2014 NCAA Statistical Champion Courage Award
- SportsCenter Top Stories of 2014
- Honored by Wheaties and EA Sports – NBA Live 15
- Dearborn County Chamber of Commerce Award
- 2014 Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year – Runner Up
- 2015 NCAS Courageous Student Athlete
- Glamour Magazine - 50 Most Inspirational Women of 2014
- 2015 Musial Award for Extraordinary Character
- Tyler Robinson Foundation – 2015 Individual Humanitarian Award
- CSPN – 2015 Sports Story
- 2015 Mt. Saint Joseph University Hall of Fame Inductee & Championship Award
- 2016 NCAA HOF – Inspiration Award
- 2016 Sports Faith Hall of Fame
- 2016 Friar's Club – Francis Award
- 2016 Talika Dennis Carter Memorial Recipient—Phenomenal Women of the Year
- 2018 Lawrenceburg High School Athletic Hall of Fame Class Inductee
- 2018 Hearland Collegiate Athletic Conference - All Decade Team Inductee
- 2019 Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame Inductee
- 2019 SportsCenter Images of the 2010's Decade
- 2019 Cincinnati.com Decade in review: A look at the 10 biggest Cincinnati collegiate/pro sports stories
- 2019 WCPO Top Moments in the Decade of Sports
