![]() To be able to speak to your children, to be able to cognitively be okay not be in any pain. “How can you for anything more when you have a huge brain tumor in the middle of your head that’s eventually going to kill you. Her left leg and left arm are no longer functional. Now the cancer is taking more than it ever has before. Through it all, she’s never missed a game, never stopped fighting. She’s endured radiation, chemotherapy, drugs. Three times in the last eight years she has had to undergo full craniotomy brain surgery procedures to remove the tumor. ![]() Since 1995, Geppi-Aikens, the head women’s lacrosse coach at Loyola College, has fought and battled a recurring brain tumor. Here’s the original story, published in March 2003, heading into her final season as a college lacrosse coach:ĭIANE GEPPI-AIKENS CONSIDERS HERSELF LUCKY and that might be all you need to know to understand her spirit, will and desire. 1 in the national rankings before losing to Princeton in the NCAA semifinals.Ī little over a month after that game, Diane died, but not before touching the lives of so many people. The Greyhounds won their first 14 games to rise to No. National morning shows on TV, local newspapers and television programs, ESPN Radio - Diane’s story was everywhere. Through the hard work of Loyola’s women’s lacrosse SID David Rosenfeld, Diane’s story continue to spread well beyond the lacrosse and sports world. So on a quiet Friday, I contacted Sports Illustrated reporter Kelly King, who had Diane pen a first-person piece that led off SI’s famed Scorecard section of the magazine. People beyond the lacrosse world needed to hear Diane’s story. I’m certainly not a movie producer, but the sentiment was not lost. One USA Lacrosse member reached out to me and said, “That needs to be a movie.” The story, as hard as it was to read, was well-received by the lacrosse community. The headline: “Diane’s Story.” It was her story to tell. Less than 24 hours later, I turned around the piece as the cover for our March 2003 edition. It was the hardest interview I’ve ever done. Her youngest daughter, Shannon, bopped in and out of the room with boundless energy.Diane cried. ![]() If she needed a reminder, it was right there in front of her during our interview. Diane knew the odds she faced, but she also knew she wouldn’t stop living. Her face was swollen from the steroid treatments. Twenty years ago, I walked into her home in the Overlea neighborhood of Baltimore to find Diane sitting on the couch. A strong and vivacious woman, she had successfully overcome cancer scares in the past, but this time would be different, and she knew it. THERE ARE STORIES THAT STICK WITH YOU FOREVER, and that’s what happened when Diane Geppi-Aikens entrusted me to share her story with the lacrosse world. This story on former Loyola women’s lacrosse coach Diane Geppi-Aikens was our March 2003 cover story. As part of recognizing the 25 th anniversary of USA Lacrosse we’re looking back at some of the most impactful stories that we’ve shared in USA Lacrosse Magazine.
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