small steps
Giant Leaps
Alumna’s studies, experience
prepare her for journey of a lifetime
When alumna Dixie Miller met Olivia — a tiny
baby with a big hole in her heart — doctors doubted
Olivia would live to have surgery. Miller had
recently become certified to accept foster children
when a friend told her about Olivia, who at the time
lived with a family equipped to care for medically
fragile children. But Miller wasn’t looking to adopt,
at least not yet.
Still, she would hear from her friend, “You need to
go see her, she’s your baby.” Reluctantly, she went.
At the foster family’s home, Olivia lay on the living
room floor and as soon as Miller looked into her
deep blue eyes, she was completely taken. Ten days
later, Olivia was deemed strong enough for a lifesaving heart surgery. Suddenly, Miller was thrust into
a gut-wrenching situation with a baby who wasn’t
legally hers, but with whom her heart was already
intertwined with maternal feelings of love and care.
Surgery was successful and Olivia was determined to
live, but her tiny body kept giving out. Alarms would
sound, alerting teams of doctors and nurses to rush
to the room of the coding baby. Eventually, she grew
stronger. Miller was able to visit her in the hospital
after Olivia was moved out of intensive care, but
couldn’t stay overnight without legal custody. She
would leave Ol