Nick LeGrande thought he was going to see his grandmother Wednesday when he ended up at Google's offices in Kansas where he was asked to throw the first pitch at an Oakland A's game that was happening more than 1,800 miles away.

LeGrande has severe aplastic anemia, a disorder in which the body's bone marrow doesn't make enough new blood cells. A huge baseball fan, he used to play in little league until his sickness began preventing him from playing.

Oakland A's reliever Ryan Cook arranged the first pitch through his girlfriend, who works for an advertising agency linked to Google. "I thought it would be an amazing thing to be a part of, to make somebody's dream come true," Cook said. "And once it came to me, I started at the bottom of the ladder here at the clubhouse and took it to the Athletics and hoped they'd be supportive of it. We got nothing but support all the way up, and from there it was pretty seamless and easy for me. I just sat back and let it all transpire."

Google set up a mound and mini stadium in its offices for the LeGrande family. Nick suited up and stood on the mound, amid cheers from his family in Kansas and a stadium full of fans in Oakland. He tossed the pitch nice and strong. A Google robot in Oakland sensed Nick's movement and mimicked it, the ball landing in Cook's glove 1,800 miles away.

"It felt good," LeGrande said. "I was just in the moment. I've been wanting to do that for a long time."

LeGrande receives blood platelet transfusions every week and takes immune-suppressive medications to keep his T-cells from attacking his bone marrow in hopes that the marrow will begin doing its job again on its own. The teen and his family hope that this treatment cures his disease, as no family member is a match for his bone marrow. If he needed a transplant, LeGrande would have to rely on the kindness of strangers to find a match.

The LeGrande family hopes that Nick's appearance at the A's game will help raise awareness about bone marrow donations. "It shouldn't all be about my son," his dad said. "Just the thought of saving someone's life. I couldn't imagine a better feeling."