Girls crowded inside the high school classroom. They filled the chairs, leaned against the windows, and sat along the walls.

Freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors. Soccer forwards, field hockey midfielders, runners and jumpers. The group listened quietly as Maureen Fitzgerald-Nagle told them a story about a girl who, not too long ago, walked the same halls at Barrington High School, who starred on the same athletic fields, who graduated and went on to reach other goals.

Ms. Fitzgerald-Nagle spoke about her dear friend, Lesley DeMaio-Duffy, who grew up in Barrington and starred in basketball and soccer and later played sports at Babson College.

But as the story went on, the local students learned that Ms. DeMaio-Duffy had recently been diagnosed with stage four cancer. That she was struggling and that she needed a hand.

Ms. Fitzgerald-Nagle offered the girls a chance to help.

She said the Feb. 8 Barrington High School girls' basketball game was going to be a special night, a fund-raiser for Ms. DeMaio-Duffy, where the money collected through tickets, raffles and t-shirt sales would be sent to the former Barrington High School graduate, who now lives in Chicago with her husband and two young children.

"The goal is to raise as much awareness and money for the family," said Ms. Fitzgerald Nagle.

Ms. Fitzgerald-Nagle went to Barrington High School with Ms. DeMaio-Duffy, played on the same basketball and soccer teams, and was shocked and crushed when she learned in October that her dear friend had been diagnosed with cancer.

The news was hard to accept. Ms. Fitzgerald-Nagle had just seen Lesley at their high school reunion in July. She  looked great, said Ms. Fitzgerald Nagle, and people could hardly tell that she was pregnant with her second child.

A few weeks later Ms. DeMaio-Duffy was struggling to remember things and underwent testing. Doctors found lesions, tumors, in her lungs and her brain.

Ms. Fitzgerald-Nagle told the girls at Barrington High School about how her friend had delivered her baby early and then immediately started treatment for the cancer. She had surgery to remove tumors in her brain, and had recently showed some improvement. A high point, Ms. Fitzgerald-Nagle added, was when Lesley was able to hold her newborn baby girl, Camden.

Do you want to help?

Anyone who would like to read more about Lesley DeMaio-Duffy's story or who would like to help the family should visit caringbridge.com and type in Lesley's name.