New England Patriots tight end Eli Raridon and his wife Anna are experiencing a heartbreak that no parent should ever go through. Their son, Peter James Raridon, was born on September 11. However, the couple lost their newborn son in just three weeks. 

In the later stage of their pregnancy, the couple learned that their baby had anencephaly. It’s a fatal condition where the rostral end of the neural tube doesn’t close by the 26th day of development. That leaves the baby to be born without some important parts of the brain, scalp, and the skull. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed that there’s no cure or treatment available to tackle anencephaly. And the babies never survive outside the womb. 

Anna Raridon has entered a stage of grief where she’s saying Peter James’ name and keeping his memory alive. She took to TikTok and shared a video compilation of some memorable stages of her pregnancy. She shared the moment when the pregnancy test showed double lines and when she held her baby boy for the first time. In the caption, she penned a heartfelt message for her lost son. 

“I carry you on with me,” the grieving mother wrote in her TikTok video. “I promised you I would. And I do. I float around and show up unannounced in the places that you knew. I draw you out with the edge of my mouth. It feels good to say your name. It’s all I have now. What a wonder sound it makes 🤍.”

In the description of the video, Anna noted that it was a “brief, honest reflection” of parenting a child with a short life on Earth. After all, the memory of their baby will remain with the couple forever. 

She noted that saying the child’s name gives her some relief. According to her, the grief isn’t silence, but a steady and private conversation where the sound of his name is a way for her to cope with the loss. 

“We carry him with us daily,” Anna wrote. “Memory surfaces unexpectedly – in rooms he knew, in small rituals, in song and in speech. These moments keep him present: we float around with his absence and show up to life because the love we have does not end. Honoring him means allowing those memories to appear without apology.

“Our time with him was short, but it was everything. We were his parents, and we will be again. Until then, we keep him with us – in name, in memory, and in the quiet promise of an eternity together.”

In the end, Anna offered advice for parents who are suffering from a similar heartache. She asked them to speak their child’s name and lean on the small rituals to keep the connection alive. According to her, the parents are “allowed to grieve and to cherish at the same time.”