November 4, 2025 Submitted by The Sweeney Family
Hingham High School junior Lila Sweeney has taken on many opponents since starting the game of basketball in first grade. For the second year, Sweeney is taking on a fierce off-court opponent: cancer.
This weekend, she will participate in the A Shot for Life (ASFL) Gauntlet, a 24-hour basketball event to raise funds for cancer research at Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center. The event is meant to be loosely symbolic of the struggle that cancer patients endure in their fight against cancer. ASFL Gauntlet players commit to playing virtually nonstop for 24 hours beginning at noon this Saturday November 8.
“I am so excited to return for my second year of A Shot for Life. It is an incredible experience,” says Sweeney. “I know that dedicating 24 hours to playing a sport I love with other like-minded athletes– who became like family within 24 hours last year– was nothing compared to what people with cancer face for months and sometimes years. I am dedicating my second year to my grandpa Bob and to other close family and friends who are facing or have faced cancer.”
Funds raised at the ASFL Gauntlet benefit Tandem Car-T Cell Therapy at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center. According to Massachusetts General Cancer Center, “glioblastoma is the most common and aggressive type of brain tumor and carries an exceedingly poor prognosis. Immunotherapy has the promise of eliminating cancer cells in the brain while leaving all other healthy tissues intact. This is now being tested as the first-ever cell therapy for patients with glioblastoma at Mass General Hospital.”
For her second year, Sweeney hopes to double her impact and raise twice as much as she did last year.
“I am so grateful that my grandpa and other close family members were able to access the treatment they needed due to incredible advances in cancer research and innovative new treatments. I want to make a difference to help other families facing this brutal disease.”
To learn more about A Shot for Life and to support Sweeney’s fundraising, visit here.
Sweeney is a member of the Hingham High School girls varsity team. She also plays year- round with AAU club Bay State Jaguars on Under Armour Rise and Elite 40 tournament circuit teams, playing within New England as well as traveling to Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Jersey, Kentucky, and Indiana for tournaments.
