College athlete and outspoken Christian Lauren Hill succumbed to brain cancer early Friday morning, according to Local12.com.
The 19-year-old inspired people around the world as she bravely fought the terminal illness, and raised over a million dollars for Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG) research.
Hill played in four games and made five layups this season at Ohio's Mount St Joseph University before her condition worsened, and was later made an honourary coach at the Division III school.
"This was my dream, to score on this floor, and it felt amazing," she told WLWT.
Hill was presented with the Governor's Courage Award last month, and was honoured for her bravery and perseverance during her team's end of the year banquet, held inside her hospital room.
Diagnosed with DIPG in high school, Hill asked God to use her disease for His benefit.
"Last January, I said to God I'll do anything to be a voice for this cancer and all the kids that can't speak their symptoms," she explained in an interview with USA Today. "Parents are left baffled, because they don't know what's wrong with their kids. (Kids) can't express what's happening to them.
"I prayed I'd be the voice and that I'd do anything that gave me an opportunity to raise awareness and raise research money."
The Lauren Hill Tribute Fund has raised nearly $1.5 million for DIPG research, with a goal of $1.75 million. Hill wanted to raise awareness of the disease - a tumor of the brainstem that primarily affects children - and to one day find a cure.
Donations can be made through The Cure Starts Now Foundation.
Hill is survived by her father and mother, Brent and Lisa Hill, and her siblings, Nate and Erin.
