It made sense to us now, why we had chosen the name “Ethan Alexander” for him. You see, we picked his name a couple of months prior to this news. Originally, I wanted to have him share his middle name with his father, but we changed that because Jeffrey’s middle name is Allen. Yep, that’s right, he would have been Ethan Allen. I just couldn’t do it. So, we chose Alexander. But his name became completely appropriate because Ethan means “firm, enduring, strong and long-lived” and Alexander means “defender, protector of man”. After the news of his diagnosis, his name made perfect sense. We have seen his strength every day since his birth. We have prayed for strength for him and God has granted that. We have prayed that he would protect the weak and we have seen that in him.

This would be our reality for the next 17 years. He had 3 open heart operations, and each had their challenges, but God saw him and us through all of them. I could go into details of each surgery, but that gets tedious after a while. I guess; however, the most important detail of all of the surgeries was the fact that he lost function in his left lung after the third surgery. Scar tissue built up and blocked off the pulmonary artery supplying blood to the lung for oxygen exchange. This left Ethan with one perfusing lung and made him a little more exceptional. He would have to work even harder to get oxygen to his toes than we had previously anticipated.

We were told to expect him to be more lethargic and sleepy than most kids. He would nap more during the day and sleep longer at night. That was a lie straight from the pits of hell. Our little fighter wanted to live. He wanted to experience life and everything it had to offer. He wanted to run, ride bikes, hike, play sports, everything. The boy didn’t sleep like they said he would.

Only now, at 17 years of age do we see him slowing down. And that’s why were here in Aurora, Colorado, waiting for a heart. But that brings it’s own little story…