Lauren Hill Dies But Her Inspiration Lives On

Heroes come in all sizes, race, creed, sexes, professions and ages
In the case of Lauren Hill reading her story and her death will have your tears soaking the page
Lauren Hill was but 19, a freshman at  Mt. St. Joseph, with a diagnosis anyone would dread
Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma almost certain that from this brain cancer you would soon be dead
With a cancer on which you could not find a way to operate
A patient so young could try to cram in a bucket list or in a rage of self pity blame God and vegetate
This brave young woman with a courage cup that continued to overflow
Chose a different path on which to go
She vowed to make the freshman basketball team
Fulfill a sporting dream
Hard to do even if only in truly a cheering and supporting role
Even with radiation and tumor growth she would make her goal
On November 2 in a game moved up because of her declining condition
She scored a layup before a sold out crowd of 10,000 against Franklin to achieve the first part of her mission
She also vowed that along her path to certain death others she would inspire
A Susan G. Komen like person who from fighting this disease until her last breath would not retire
She also vowed if this cancer would take her down for the final count
As the pain and the headaches and weakness continued to mount
She vowed to honor her jersey 22 to raise for the Cure Starts Now $2.2 million for research to a cure find

Even though daily the disease's progress was gnawing and destroying larger and larger parts of her mind

A layup challenge where a contributor would have to spin five times and with a nondominant hand shoot

At 10 dollars a miss and Cure Starts Now started reeling in massive amounts of loot

Upper Deck created a sports card and proceeds to Cure Starts Now soared
She was always rising each time after due to treatment being floored
Before the end of her short life her efforts raised 1.4 million dollars, a remarkable sum
No one who met her could not be inspired any more than one would not be warmed exposed to the summer sun
On April 10 Lauren Hill took her basketball and jersey 22 to teach God how to shoot a layup in the game that never ends
She showed us it is not about how long you live, only how the minutes on this earth you spend
She showed us it is not how much material goods one manages to acquire
Rather it is about how many people to do worthy acts you inspire
Rest in peace Lauren Hill; we if we close our eyes can hear you against cancer roar
Memories of your courage will make our spirits soar
Katy Perry sang it far better than the above words of this Alaskan muse
Lines for the song in your battles you always used to choose
© Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet
“I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter, dancing through the fire
'Cause I am a champion and you're gonna hear me roar
Louder, louder than a lion
'Cause I am a champion and you're gonna hear me roar”
Katy Perry Roar