A Tribute to Lauren Hill

She didn’t allow a goal in soccer and got cut the next year,
She picked up a second sport, bring on the basketball gear.
She was recruited by the Mount, and she had a decision to make,
She called to accept the offer, the day she cut her 18^th birthday cake,
Not long after, she got the news that could be the end of the story,
Cancer was the diagnosis, but this wasn’t the end to her glory,
She had a dream to play and score in a college basketball game,
Little did she know that everyone in America would know her name,
She was told she wouldn’t last more than two years,
She stayed strong and didn’t buckle to her fears,
She practiced every day and went to school on top of that,
She still made time for anyone who wanted to chat,
Local 12 covered her battle from this moment on,
They were what she needed to  tell her story, before she was gone,
She said she had DIPG, a rare deadly brain cancer,
There isn’t enough funding to help doctors find the answer,
She wanted to be the face for this deadly disease,
Hoping the message would spread like pollen with bees,
She stayed positive as she awaited her moment to shine,
She could have been selfish about the but never said, “mine”
The Mount’s doors couldn’t hold all the support she had,
They moved the game to The Cintas, and her fans were glad,
Over ten thousand saw her take the floor for her first tip,
Hundreds of thousands tuned in from home to see just a clip,
On the Mount’s first possession, she was passed the ball,
Could she get her first ever layup in college to fall?
She shot a left handed layup and the whole arena froze,
And you can only imagine how the rest of the story goes,
The basket was good and the crowd went wild,
The story could have ended there, but it’s not all she had dialed,
She hit another layup in that game and played in a few more,
When she could no longer play, she coached to help her team score,
She started The Cure Starts Now for future children who hope for a cure,
The Layup For Lauren challenge helped bring in money not only for her,
But for everyone she represented until the day she passed away,
So please give to The Cure Starts Now and help somebody today,
It didn’t save Lauren Hill, but it may save someone just as sweet,
To give them more time before they walk next to God’s feet.
Lauren, you were larger than life and we were lucky to have you here,
There will be days I look up to Heaven and I will shed a tear,
It felt like I knew you even though I did not,
But I know one thing is for sure, this planet will miss you a lot.

The Cure Starts Now