Reflecting on 2022
2022 was the toughest year of our lives. Saying goodbye to Miles and to Bradley’s father John shattered our hearts and broke us. One would think we would be ready for this year to end - but the opposite is true. 2022 is the last year that we had with them and 2023 means beginning a whole new year without our son, brother, father, and Papa.
Making New Year Resolutions has always been a daunting task for me. I find much it much more rewarding and beneficial for my mental health to first reflect on all of the blessings and accomplishments of the year ending - prior to or instead of focusing on perhaps unattainable or intimidating goals.
So we reflect on all the goodness that 2022 brought, despite the outcome none of us imagined. Miles (and Charlee) graduated from elementary school and won the school spelling bee. Despite being gone often for treatments, he managed to be the class Valedictorian. Miles was also the honorary EHS Football Homecoming King. One of the biggest games he received was his Make A Wish Gameroom - a place where he dominated the game of pool and somewhere his friends like to come now.
Carter earned A honor roll all year, ran track and field, continued with his travel baseball, attended his first Prospect camp, played Babe Ruth and made the All Star team. He shot his mountain buck on our property and spent many hours hunting quail, dove, duck and geese with family and friends. He’s also mastered the art of his wild game jerky and duck poppers.
Both boys fished from coast to coast. From our mountain lakes and local rivers, to the waters of South Carolina and upstate New York.
Miles and Charlee wore their tuxedos with yellow bow ties to two black tie affairs. We were able to travel to LA to the Endeavor Awards to help raise funds for Angel Flight West where Miles was the guest of honor and spoke. Later we were invited to the Oregon Wine Experience to raise funds for the Asante Forward Foundation. Miles was onstage to help raise a record-breaking 3.1 million dollars in one night.
This cause was passionate to both of the boys and their local 4H club which has collectively given over $25,000 of their hard earned money towards the construction of this new hospital in honor of Miles. They were all given a hard hat tour of the new women’s and children’s hospital - even getting to make special notes and place them alongside pictures in the metal framing.
He didn’t just make it to the stage to make a difference for other kids battling cancer - he also sang “Don’t Stop Believin’ ” at least four times on stage, with a live band, to a crowd. His good friends the Heffernans also gifted him two epic dance parties - a special gift as he wasn’t alive for his first Jr. High School Dance - what he was most looking forward to about middle school.
We were blessed to have a family trip to San Diego with Bradley’s family where we spent some much needed time on the beach and at Disneyland. Even as his physical abilities were declining, Miles still manged to learn to surf and was riding waves by the end of the trip.
Continuing to cross items off his “list” we were off to Vegas with the boys’ best friends to not only see their show, but personally meet Dude Perfect. Thanks to the generosity of others, we experienced a helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon - even landing at below the canyon cliff.
At the end of the summer we headed to South Carolina with our dear friends and experienced the genuine kindness, hospitality, and fun loving south. It was hard to say goodbye to the intercoastal waterway fishing, but then it was time for another family reunion at Silver Bay in upstate NY.
The end of summer found us and the boys’ 4H swine projects at the Siskiyou Golden Fair held at the Jackson County Expo. Miles was named the Grand Marshall of the Redneck Roundup and both boys did exceptionallly well - but we were all brought to tears as Miles’s pig sold three times for over $50,000 - Carter was the recipient of extreme generosity too. With which both boys contributed over $14,000 to the Asante Forward Foundation for the new hospital.
Shortly after the Fair, Miles was supposed to start a new trial at Stanford but MRIs showed that tumors had progressed excessively throughout his brain and spine. After this news we were blessed with an opportunity to attend a San Francisco Giants game complete with a field visit with many autographs and conversations, complimentary hotel stay, and amazing seats with all the crab sandwhiches we could eat. Brandon Crawford even wore his Smiles for Miles bracelet throughout the game.
Carter decided to step up his 4H game and purchased a steer at auction. George would take walks with Carter up to the porch each night to see Miles.
Miles took one last flight on a hot air balloon ride with his buddy Pete before he gained his own Angel Wings.
Since his passing, we have made it through the holiday season (even hosting 49 friends and family for Thanksgiving) learned so much about grief, cried more tears than we even thought possible - but we remain astounded by the way we continue to see Miles’s light shine. We were able to choose a room at the new Ohlsrud Family Women’s and Children’s Hospital to be named after him - The Miles John Isbell Child Life Quiet Room. An organization which gifts Lego sets to Children’s hospitals was so inspired by Miles’s own giving that they will be donating a large amount of Lego sets at the hospital’s opening. So many people from around the world continue to give to both this cause, Pediatric Cancer Research and also Scott Valley Scholarships in his name. Our local county law enforcement will now hold a Miles Isbell honorary Shop with a Cop recipient each year at Christmas. One local restaurant even did an entire tree in themed ornaments for Miles The Brave. There have been so many blessings and #momentsformiles from our community and if you don’t have a #scottvalleystrong - GO BUILD IT!
So yes - losing Miles and John have absolutely broke our hearts - changed our lives - devasted life as we know it, but if we didn’t also take time to reflect on all of the good this year brought we wouldn’t be living life like Miles did - even as he faced the worst. Our hope for 2023 is that we continue to live our lives like Miles - and we have the strength to do so, even in the toughest of times, just like him.
