Teams move game to give dying teen a chance to play

More news about: Hiram | Mount St. Joseph

Indiana Fever photo

Lauren Hill will have a shot to play college basketball, and it took Mount St. Joseph, Hiram and the NCAA to make it happen.

Hill, a freshman at MSJ, was diagnosed nearly a year ago with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma, a pediatric brain cancer that affects around 300 children in the U.S. each year. She finished her high school basketball career while receiving chemo treatments and enrolled at Mount St. Joseph with the intent of playing basketball there as well.

However, the calendar was against her. With the season not set to open until Nov. 15, at Hiram, the odds were long that she would make it to the opening tipoff. More than 90 percent of patients die within 12 months, and Hill received her diagnosis in November 2013. 

It took Hiram's cooperation, and an act of the NCAA to make her dream more realistic. Hiram will now play at Mount St. Joseph on Nov. 2, with the NCAA's blessing.

"I never gave up for a second, even when they told me I have a terminal diagnosis. I never for a second thought about sitting down and not living life anymore," Hill told Cincinnati television station WKRC.

The full television feature is below: