Introducing Miles Ray Dipo

What's in a name? For Miles by any other name would be just as sweet. Yet we wanted to give him a somewhat unique name that alluded to his upcoming struggle. My little brother, who was born very premature at 28 weeks when our family lived in Honolulu, was given the middle name “Kekoa,” which loosely means “brave warrior” in Hawaiian. Keeping with that tradition, but also recognizing Miles had no business having a Hawaiian name, Jenny found his name, which is Latin for “soldier.” Soldiers of all nations don’t win every battle, but regardless of the side they’re on, they all fight for a what they believe is a greater cause. And even when the odds are stacked against them, they still fight for honor and to be remembered. We’re not sure what all lies in store for Miles, but he has already proven to be a strong soldier, and his fight will be honorable and memorable, regardless of the ultimate outcome.

We also gave Miles the middle name of “Ray,” which is my dad’s middle name. My dad’s life so far would be a great one for him to emulate, and we felt it especially appropriate to give him that name as my dad was likewise born with a heart defect, albeit one that didn’t impact him much until it ultimately required him to get heart valve replacement surgery back in February this year. But the timing of my dad’s surgery (one month after we found out about Miles’ heart tumor) gave us a good sneak peek into how routine heart surgery has become today and how quickly one can recover to full function. Granted, we are still holding hard to the possibility he won’t need heart surgery yet, or maybe ever, but it was one of many ways I feel a higher power has prepared us very well for this trial.