In early 2024, Victoria high school student Keira Lu already had a lot on her plate. The Grade 12 student was making final preparations to secure admission and a diving scholarship to Duke University in North Carolina and training to compete in the upcoming 2024 Junior Elite Diving Nationals.
She was also grieving the recent loss of her mom, Zoe, who had passed away after a recurrence of triple negative breast cancer in October. And so, when it came time to complete her Capstone Project — a B.C. high school graduation requirement — her dad hoped she would go easy on herself.
“She had so little time to spare,” says Lawrence Lu. “When I learned she planned to organize a cancer fundraiser, I worried. And then when she pulled it off with amazing success, I cried.”
Keira and a friend, fellow Mount Douglas Secondary School student William Tran, who also lost a loved one to cancer, hoped to raise $1,000 through the Hoops for Hope Charity Classic. Not only did the basketball fundraiser acquire them the necessary credits to graduate, it also raised more $4,300 for the BC Cancer Foundation.
“My mom was the biggest giver,” says Keira, who grew up watching her mom annually volunteer to help raise funds for breast cancer research — an initiative Keira has joined her in since she was 13.
Keira Lu with her mom Zoe, dad Lawrence and brother Mackenzie.
Unfortunately, Zoe faced her own breast cancer diagnosis in February 2020. “An already scary time turned worse as our family had to navigate life in a pandemic with a loved one with cancer,” says Keira.
After treatment, Zoe was given the all clear and things returned to normal. In July 2023, the Lu family was in Montreal, where Keira and her brother Mackenzie were competing in Canada’s Diving Junior Nationals, when Zoe started experiencing knee pain.
“When we got the news that the cancer had returned, all the emotions of the first time came back, though this time was different. The timeline became shorter and shorter, and our main priority was just to spend time together.”
Much more than a high school project, Hoops for Hope was a tribute to her mom — one she hopes Mount Doug staff and students will continue as an annual legacy event — and a way to thank BC Cancer.
“Through my mom’s diagnosis, treatment, and up until she passed, BC Cancer truly helped me and my family. I’m super happy to have given back. I’m incredibly proud, and I just know my mom is too.”
Learn more about hosting a fundraising event for the BC Cancer Foundation in your community.
