PITCHING AGAINST CANCER

Having faced each other 10 times so far this year, the San Francisco Giants lead their National League West rivals 7-3 – a great showing for this Giants fan, but on May 9 in L.A., the first pitch was an especially good moment.

Jeff Jones, owner of Admiral Pest Control, was recently awarded the American Cancer Society's 2013 Statewide Patient Courage Award. As part of the award, Jones was asked to throw the first pitch. Jones was diagnosed with Sarcoma in November 2006 and has fought the cancer through chemotherapy and radiation, yet he eventually had to have his right arm amputated on May 9, 2013 – one year prior to throwing the pitch last week.

What made this pitch even more challenging is that Jeff is right-handed, so he has had to spend the last year learning to do everything with his off hand and do everything with only one hand.

"Fighting cancer was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. This is just throwing a ball," he said prior to the event. "I'm just proud to say that by doing this, we are able to raise more than $4,000 for the American Cancer Society. That's $4,000 that goes toward stopping cancer."

Over the last year, Jones has had to adjust to some major changes, he said. "I had worked on writing left-handed and eating left-handed and tried to get into the groove of being one-handed, but it was so much harder than I thought," he said in an interview just after surgery. "It's so much more work buttoning your shirt. You can do a lot of things, but it just takes you twice as long to do it."

In preparation for the big pitch, Jones practiced weekly with his son-in-law and his brother.

"The first thing I had to do was relearn how to do the foot work – everything was backwards," he said. "I don't have the balance of the other arm or the wind up, so it's all arm. My left arm needed to build strength – it hadn't thrown a ball in my entire life." Although he'd been sore, "practice makes perfect," he said.

"I am very honored to have been chosen for this award. I know that I went through a lot of treatments and ultimately lost my arm, but I felt like I did what anyone would do in that situation. You have to take it one day at a time and not focus on the long-term treatments. That keeps it from being overwhelming."

This is Admiral's seventh year of fundraising for the American Cancer Society, and in 2008, he formed Team Admiral to support the Relay for Life – a global event that helps communities raise funds to support the battle against cancer.

Jones and Admiral Pest Control have raised more than $130,000 in support of cancer research via the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life. Friends and employees of Admiral Pest will walk to raise funds for the Bellflower Relay for Life on June 28 and hopes to raise more than $35,000 for this year's relay.

"Participating in the Relay for Life is a way for us as a company to give back to the community," Jones said. "Cancer touches just about every American. We are proud to be able to give back in this way."

To see the pitch, visit: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B17b9zD3tMw3VHpBWndjdWdDbFE/edit?pli=1

Pre-pitch interview: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B17b9zD3tMw3bllYZV9SUFlTdzQ/edit?pli=1

To find out more about or to make a donation, please go to: http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLCY14CA?px=8859913&pg=personal&fr_id=56373