By: Austin Alexander – September 21, 2015

For the second straight week, an evil disease called cancer has stricken a member of the DP team – this time it is with a heavy heart that that I report my wife Rita and I got the bad news last Tuesday following a series of doctor’s appointments and tests.

Stage 3 breast cancer is the verdict and final preparations are being made to determine our course of action toward victory.

In the past few days, the outpouring of support from friends and family has been so incredibly helpful. The countless number of calls, texts and emails from every level of the baseball world has been so humbling.

We are being educated at warp speed on a topic we knew little about. People have come out of the woodwork to help steer us in the best directions to fight her dreadful illness. Even in the early stages of this long road, the word “fight” has been a term we had heard often but takes on a new meaning when you are the one squarely in the battle.

I have already seen amazing strength from the numbing moment when we found out our fate, then an immediate switching of gears to what I call ‘solution mode.’

Perhaps one portion of this experience that concerned us the most was telling our 9 and 5 year old boys in a way they could understand. But that anxiety quickly moved to a moment we will never forget as both of them took the news like a champ and church broke out in our home, my wife says, ‘the Holy Spirit filled our house that night!’

We are a very close Christian family that prefers not to share our lives publicly, but at the prodding of several close baseball friends, it was suggested that I write this dissertation on Diamond Prospects. We soon realized that it is selfish to withhold information from those who care and really want to help. We also do not want to miss out on any prayers that can be said on Rita’s behalf.

For the person still reading this letter on a baseball website, please know in advance that we listen to and read every single thing sent our way, but we just cannot return each one…we are just trying to keep our heads above water right now. What we need the absolute most is prayer so we can grow closer to an awesome testimony of victory.

Many of you have asked to be updated. While I am one of the last remaining humans not on Facebook, a very close friend of ours has offered to step up and set up a page for my wife to update others as developments occur. It can be found right here: Prayers for Rita / Rally ‘Round Rita

We thank you in advance for your support and prayers as we sprint in the direction of our finish line, our “W”.

May God bless you and your family each and every day!