OC Register: Angels announcer Victor Rojas stays strong for his wife in her health battle

[AngelsWin.com]

She braces herself for the worst. Staying strong, she tells herself, is the only way she can win.

She used to cry in the mornings as the sun came up. She would try to drive the kids to school, and the sunlight would slap her in the face. She became so sensitive, it was nearly impossible to see. That was August, when she began to notice something was wrong.

Seven months later, she is in full fight-mode. She puts on sunglasses to protect her delicate eyes and wipes the tears away.

“We’re going to handle this,” she said, in a telephone interview.

Kim Rojas, wife of Angels announcer Victor Rojas, is at their home in Trophy Club, Texas, this week making plans for a surgical procedure she hopes will give her answers. In January, she was diagnosed with Graves’ disease and Graves’ ophthalmopathy, rare thyroid conditions that have caused swollen, bulging eyes and, along with other complications, are threatening her life.

In the next two weeks, she plans to schedule biopsies of two nodules on her thyroid that were discovered after the diagnosis.

“If it’s cancer, we will take it out,” Kim said resolutely. “God doesn’t give you something you can’t handle. I have to keep it together. Yes, this thing is happening to my body, but I’m going to do this for my family. I’d rather something be happening to me than my kids or my husband.”

Angels announcer Victor Rojas(File photo by PAUL RODRIGUEZ, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER/SCNG)

Thursday, April 4 is Rojas’ 10th home opener as the Angels television play-by-play man. Forgive him if his mind is elsewhere.

“It’s awful,” Victor said from his hotel room in Seattle, where the Angels played Tuesday night. “We need to find out what the hell is going on. … It breaks my heart. It’s hard not to be there.

“My focus is getting Kim back to where she feels normal. We have to expect the best, but anticipate a bump in the road. You can’t be consumed with what defeat is going to bring.”

As they wait for tests and results, they talk, text and FaceTime 15 or 20 times per night while Victor is calling games for the Angels.

“He has my back,” Kim said.

‘Love at first sight’

They met in Florida when she was a school teacher and he was working in the front office for the Florida Panthers hockey team. They were both working on a charity golf tournament. It was 1996.

“For her, it was love at first sight,” Victor said with a big laugh. He is the son of former major league ballplayer and former Angels and Florida Marlins manager Cookie Rojas.

“It was,” said Kim, who is the daughter of well-known Ft. Lauderdale physician everyone called “Dr. Bob.”

Their first date was to a Panthers hockey game. Victor had to work selling tickets during the game, so he could only see her during the breaks between periods.

“I thought we had a great time,” Kim said. “But he was working.”

By the time she got home that night, Victor had left a message on her answering machine.

“That’s every girl’s dream,” Kim said. “He didn’t do the cool thing and wait for two days. That sealed the deal.”

Within a month, Victor gave Kim a promise ring with a diamond pattern that looked like snowflakes.

Within six months, he proposed. He took her to Shula’s Steakhouse in Miami, and then invited her for a walk on the beach. He got down on a knee. Victor was so nervous, as he took off the snowflake ring, he dropped it in the sand.

In the dark, they had to fish the snowflake ring out of the sand before he could kiss her.

They were married in 2000.

Change of direction

In 2001, Victor Rojas had an epiphany.

He was still working in sales for the Florida Panthers, and still playing some baseball. (He had been a minor league pitcher, briefly, in the Angels system.)

“I decided I wanted to be an announcer,” Victor said.

He called the Newark Bears, an independent baseball team, which was owned by former Yankee catcher Rick Cerone.

Cerone hired Victor AND Kim. Victor worked as an assistant general manager and as a broadcaster. Kim worked as an office manager. They moved to New Jersey, a place they grew to love.

“Rick Cerone was very gracious with Kim and I,” Victor said.

Victor helped convince former major leaguers Jack Armstrong, Jim Leyritz and Jose Canseco to play for the Bears. More important, Victor got hired for a morning radio show called “The Baseball Breakfast” for MLB.com.

He got together a demo reel of his announcing highlights and sent them to Arizona, where, in 2003 Scott Geyer gave him the break he was looking for. Victor was hired as a radio broadcaster for the Diamondbacks.

Kim and Victor had two children – Mattingly, now 16, and Tyler, now 13.

His career went from Arizona to Texas to the MLB Network, from radio to television. On Jan. 4, 2010, beloved Angels broadcaster Rory Markas, who had called the Angels only World Series victory, died suddenly.

The Angels were considering using fill-in announcers for the season. Then owner Arte Moreno met Victor Rojas during spring training.

“Arte said it’s not about now,” Victor remembers. “It’s about five or 10 years down the road.”

Victor loved the long-term goals, the family atmosphere. Victor approached Kim, who was lounging by the hotel pool.

“How would you like to move to Southern California?” he said.

“The Angels made the decision easy,” Kim said.

Not going to hide

They lived in Rancho Santa Margarita for about six years.

But their parents lived in Florida, so Victor and Kim decided to move to Texas to cut down the flying time when they wanted to see their parents. Trophy Club is a community west of Dallas and close to the airport.

Plus, the Angels spend a lot of time in Texas, playing the Rangers and the Astros.

Kim Rojas is the wife of Angels TV broadcaster Victor Rojas. In January, she was diagnosed with Graves’ disease. (Courtesy of Rojas family)

Before last summer, life was great. Victor and Kim launched a new business – Big Fly Gear, in which they put numbers from baseball history on T-shirts. For example, they have a line featuring 755, the number of home runs Hank Aaron hit.

Kim was ordering, driving, marketing (“Doing it all,” Victor said) for the business this summer when she noticed her eyes were swelling. She thought it was allergies.

“I looked very tired,” she said. “My eyelids were very swollen.”

As the condition got worse, and he eyes became more sensitive, she began going to doctor after doctor. Finally, they discovered her TSH levels were unusually high, which suggested hypothyroidism.

Kim turned 50 this year, and she was doing a colonoscopy when doctors noticed she had a racing heart while she was under anesthesia. Something wasn’t right.

In January, after about five months of not knowing, she was finally diagnosed with Graves’ disease, which, if untreated, can be fatal.

Her reaction?

“Relief,” she said. “I finally knew what it was.”

Now, she awaits the biopsies and results. If she needs her thyroid removed, she will have to undergo hormone therapy for the rest of her life.

“Some people hide,” Kim said. She is forcing herself to be public about her illness.

In February, Victor wrote a touching tribute and posted a picture of Kim on Facebook.

Victor wrote: “Even with the issues she’s dealt with for months, she still manages to go on with her routine as the most caring, loving mother/wife a family could ask for…as she’s always been. It breaks my heart to see her cry, leaving me helpless with nothing more to offer than simply throwing my arms around her & reminding her just how much I adore her.”

The outpouring of support since that post has inspired her.

“I can’t tell you how great everybody’s been,” Kim said. “The people who have reached out to me … they’ve been my rock. They made me feel like there’s nothing we can’t beat.”

 

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[yk9001]

I hate to read these stories about people battling such health issues in the prime of their life.

I hope everything turns out well for Kim.

[T.G.]

Heart breaking indeed.  I can't imagine how hard this is for the whole family - especially with Victor on the road.

[Taylor]

They sound like a really wonderful couple. I already liked Victor, but I like him even more seeing how much he loves his wife. Hoping Kim pulls through this.

[T.G.]

Puts things in perspective for sure. 

[GrittyVeterans]

Ugh 50 years old. So sad

 

wishing them the best

[JAHV76]

Terrible news hopefully everything works out OK.

[Claude]

Victor is a class act. With he and his family going through such a very challenging time we should all show our support in one way or another. Thoughts and prayers for them. Geez it must be tough for him to go on the road. 

[Make Angels Great Again]

Praying for your family @VictorRojas29.

 

But man, I'm pretty sure we'd all understand if you took some time away to be with them. Get Jose in there or something.

[Tank]

@VictorRojas29, adding you and kim and the family to my prayer list.

i don't know what the treatment is for graves', but i hope it works successfully for kim.

[Chuck]

1 hour ago, Tank said:

@VictorRojas29, adding you and kim and the family to my prayer list.

^ 

[Lhalo]

That was a tough read. Best wishes for Kim and the Rojas family.

[Lou]

6 hours ago, AngelsWin.com said:

Her reaction?

“Relief,” she said. “I finally knew what it was.”

Someone go ahead ahead and try to tell me that she isn't a strong woman. 

@VictorRojas29, Kim and the entire family are in my prayers. 

[ten ocho recon scout]

Sad story.

Best of luck to Mr Rojas and his family.

[eligrba]

@VictorRojas29 I wish your family all of the best. 

[SoCalSportsFan]

BTW, Keith Sharon wrote the OC Register article about @VictorRojas29 and Kim!

It's tough when a loved one (especially your spouse) is going something like this!

It was tough on my Mom and I when we went through my Dad's ultimate last 2 years of his life 22 years ago. Thank God for my wife's support towards My Mom and myself. Having the support of your close friends and family helped me out back then. I know all of the @AngelsWin.com family is thinking of Victor and Kim right now!

[Billy_Ball]

Thoughts and prayers are with the Rojas family.

[disarcina]

Victor Rojas has been excellent as the TV voice of the Halos since his arrival here.

Prayers for Victor, his wife - Kim - and the Rojas family. I hope all goes well .

I agree with a prior poster - these stories are hard to read.  

Halos Nation supports the Victor Rojas family.

[disarcina]

Chuck / Angels Win honchos -- can we get a card to Victor from AW.com ?