Imagine you are 23 years old, with a college undergraduate degree and working on getting a master's degree.
 
Your future is ahead of you, and, seemingly, the world is your oyster.
 
Then comes the diagnosis – stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
 
"In a weird way, golf prepared me mentally, just because I had to have such a strong mental game my whole golf career," said former Ashland University women's golfer Grace Grant, now age 24. "This, obviously, mentally, will take a toll on you, but the whole time, I've tried to see the brighter side of everything.
 
"I just tell myself I'm so lucky that I can come back to Ohio, see my friends, and that I feel good enough to travel. I know that I can't golf right now, because I have the PICC line in my arm, but I know that I'll be able to golf eventually, and I know there's other people who don't feel well, and they are going through something harder, as hard as my situation is."
 
Grant originally came to Ashland from Bradenton, Fla., and IMG Academy – a story in and of itself.
 
"I picked Ashland because I loved the coach at the time, and because they had Fashion Merchandising," she said. "My teammate, Emma Conway (also from Florida), she committed before me. Emma called me and we talked on the phone, hit it off immediately and talked on the phone for hours.
 
"I was like, 'Well, if Emma's willing to go to Ashland, Ohio, maybe this is the place for me.' Then I just fell in love with it."
 
Grant played with the team at the 2024 NCAA Division II Championships, as the Eagles finished 17^th in the country. She was a two-time College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District selection, three-time Women's Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) All-American Scholar, and three-time All-Great Midwest Athletic Conference choice.
 
"I briefly met Grace last year at a tournament in Columbus, but she was smiling and bubbly the entire day," said current Eagle head women's golf coach Ted Chester. "From talking to her former teammates and people around AU athletics, that seems to be her normal. Grace made a lasting impact while at Ashland.
 
"This season, in honor of Grace, our team is wearing purple ribbons on our hats and bags to show our support. Grace is facing an incredibly difficult fight with strength and determination. She will always be part of the Ashland women's golf family, and we are all behind her every step of the way."
 
After graduating from AU with a degree in Fashion Merchandising, it was on to Kent State to earn a postgraduate degree. But then…
 
"In April, when I was at Kent, getting my master's in fashion, I woke up, my left eye was half-open," Grant recalled. "And I went to urgent care, and I thought I had pink eye."
 
After much consultation and time passed, the official result was not pink eye, or an eye infection. After a trip to the emergency room, a golf ball-sized tumor on the left side of her neck was found.
 
"That's how this all started," she said. "They thought that I had breast cancer, Hodgkin lymphoma, other things."
 
She eventually found her way to MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, where she's been living during treatments – those treatments having been four completed rounds of chemotherapy. Grant found out the tumors on her neck and pancreas both have shrunk.
 
"I'm going to do two more rounds," she noted, saying there also will be a 12- to 13-hour surgery to remove the neck tumor. "They're going to have to potentially break my collarbone, get the tumor out of my neck, and put it back together."
 
Both Eagle golf teams have shown their support for Grant throughout her diagnosis – ribbons on golf bags, signs of support, regular checking-in texts, etc.
 
"It's been huge to know that I have such a big support system," she said. "It's just made me feel so much better, knowing that I have all these people to lean on. Dennis (North), the men's coach, has been so, so unbelievably supportive. He texts me every day that he's praying for me.
 
"And even other schools, like Malone and Findlay, have reached out to me and told me how much they're supporting me and thinking about me and praying for me. It just means everything."
 
In the midst of her living with pancreatic cancer, Grant has had God to lean on every step of the way.
 
"The first question you ask yourself or want to ask God is why. Why me, of all people," said Grant. "(Senior) LeeAnn (Harker) helps me a lot through Bible studies, getting closer to God. She helps me think more of how to ask God to give you the strength to keep going. Just know that God gives tough battles to really strong people.
 
"It's helped a lot through everything."