SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - This Saturday, the Mt. Caramel High baseball team will face off against one of their rivals, Del Norte High. But at the end of the day, the score of this game won't matter. They're raising money for cancer, donating all proceeds to the UCSD Moores Cancer Center.
The annual event honors people who've lost their lives to cancer and those still fighting. Del Norte High senior Garrett Lavin is of them.
"It was actually his birthday when he found out everything and then he started chemo three weeks later," said Barb Lavin, Garrett's mother.
Barb says the first sign something was wrong came over a year ago. Garrett got his wisdom teeth removed and doctors saw a small hole in his jaw. Doctors ultimately decided to wait and monitor it. It wasn't until Garrett started experiencing symptoms that they realized what they were dealing with.
Doctors discovered he had a tumor that grew to be the size of a baseball. He was diagnosed with a soft-tissue cancer called rhabdomyosarcoma.
It took doctors 10 hours to remove the tumor and Garrett is now undergoing chemotherapy treatments until December.
"It's hard but we try not to dwell on the negative, we try to be super positive," said Barb.
She says helping them every step of the way is their community and baseball team. While Garrett has to sit out this season, his teammates are wearing his number. He attends as many games as he can and hopes to take part in senior activities come the end of the school year.
"If you ever need people, they're here in San Diego."
The Cancer Awareness Game will be Saturday at 2 p.m. at Mt. Carmel High School. There will be a silent auction and all proceeds will go to the UCSD Moores Cancer Center.
