Seattle's bat girl and her mother both survived cancer

SEATTLE -- As part of Major League Baseball's Mother's Day festivities and to raise awareness for the fight against breast cancer, the Mariners named Donna Person-Smith their honorary bat girl and let her throw out the first pitch to Taijaun Walker before Sunday's game.

Three years ago, Person-Smith was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 43. A few months later, her mother, Carla Person was diagnosed, too.

With their family and a stadium of sun-drenched fans watching Sunday, both women walked to the mound arm-in-arm before Person-Smith tossed out the first pitch. Person-Smith still takes daily doses of tamoxifen to prevent cancer from returning by blocking estrogen receptors of breast cancer cells.

She said she was fortunate that her cancer was detected while it was still in Stage 1. After a double mastectomy, she's been cancer-free going on three years. Her mother, Carla is cancer-free as well.

"I tell myself that I'm one of the lucky ones," she said. "It's just great to be here today to celebrate this with my mother, but also because we're both breast cancer survivors."