SAN DIEGO (CBS 8) - On Wednesday night, as fans walked out of Petco Park bummed the Padres lost, but one group left as winners.
One man made it his life's mission to help children with cancer, and he is doing it one ball game at a time. On Wednesday night, local families facing the tough challenge were treated to a major league game at Petco Park.
Fifty-year-old Greg Durfee, once a homeless man on skid row, ended his Kids with Cancer Baseball Tour this year in San Diego, stealing cancer and giving kids and their families a night without illness.
Durfee changed his life around after grieving the loss of a child in 2000. "It was through that valley, I decided I wanted to dedicate the rest of my life to helping kids with cancer," he said.
Five years later, now a Colorado native, Durfee started the Youth Cancer Baseball Tour, taking kids with cancer around the country to MLB games.
Six stadiums this year, and paying for a meal and parking, the Padres Foundation donated field level seats.
"We like to try and give them a day where they don't have to worry about chemo. They don't have to worry about radiation. They can just come and enjoy a memory with their family at a baseball game," he said.
While the Padres may have lost 5-0, for Greg Durgee and all the children like Santos Flores, who is fighting cancer, Wednesday night was a grand slam.
Wednesday's game was Flores' first MLB game.
"I watch it on television. My friends talk about it, but I had not had the opportunity to come to an event like this," he said.
Durfee relies on donations. His goal is to send kids to 30 stadiums and end at next year's All Star Game at Petco Park.