Good Luck! 9-Yr-Old Dorothy, NJ, Cardiac Patient To Throw Phillies 1st Pitch

Baseball is officially back this week! Phillies fans, are you excited?

One local young Phillies fan cannot WAIT for the home opener at Citizens Bank Park that's been rescheduled to Friday, April 7th because he gets to have the experience of a lifetime! Seriously, not too  many people can say they've ever done this. 9-year-old Vincent Ardito is definitely one lucky little boy.

Hailing from Dorothy in Atlantic County, NJ, Ardito wasn't always so lucky. He's actually gone through quite a lot in his short 9 years of life. Believe it or not, this Weymouth Township 3rd grader's already gone through open heart surgery at Nemours Children's Hospital to correct a bad pathway that's brought on by a condition called Wolf Parkinson White Syndrome.

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Basically, it's an extra pathway in the heart that could have potentially led to some really unfortunate and dangerous consequences down the road for Vincent, if left uncorrected. Luckily, he went to Nemours, and his doctors knew exactly what to do.

As you can tell, Vincent's a fighter! He's already conquered the scariest ailment of his life. Pitching in front of almost 50,000 people should be no sweat in comparison.

Still, we want to make sure Vincent knows that he has our complete support when he takes the Phillies' pitcher's mound. We're all so proud of how far he's come and we have no doubt that he'll make South Jersey proud.

You can catch the Phillies' home opener on Friday, April 7th at 3:05 p.m. on TBS!

Good luck tonight, Vincent! We know you'll do great!

Special thanks to Vincent's mom, Tamara Ardito, for letting us share Vincent's story.