CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Charlotte 49ers women’s basketball team received a commitment from Angel Middleton from First Baptist School in Charleston, SC.

Normally, this kind of news slides under the radar, but Middleton’s signing is significant for what she has been through, and continues to battle.

Middleton has lupus, a condition she appears to be handling and gaining ground on.

“Hopefully, everything will stay as planned, and I’ll just take the medicine as it is now, decreasing and decreasing as we go,” Middleton said on Wednesday.

Charlotte was the first school to offer a scholarship to Middleton, and Middleton decided that playing for head coach Cara Consuegra was the path she wanted to take.

“They saw something in me that no other coach did, and they accepted everything that I had on the plate, so it just was a done deal.”

Middleton’s battle with lupus has cost her time on the court and in the classroom. Hospital stays have been more common that she would like, but she says her support system around her  has given her the strength to press on.

“He [head coach Presley Singleton] just told me not to give up.  It doesn’t really matter what’s going on.  I’ve faced a lot, and now that I know, I can do anything, basically.”