Mattie Miracle 15th Anniversary Video

Mattie Miracle Cancer Foundation Promotional Video

Thank you for keeping Mattie's memory alive!

Dear Mattie Blog Readers,

It means a great deal to us that you take the time to write to us and to share your thoughts, feelings, and reflections on Mattie's battle and death. Your messages are very meaningful to us and help support us through very challenging times. To you we are forever grateful. As my readers know, I promised to write the blog for a year after Mattie's death, which would mean that I could technically stop writing on September 9, 2010. However, at the moment, I feel like our journey with grief still needs to be processed and fortunately I have a willing support network still committed to reading. Therefore, the blog continues on. If I should find the need to stop writing, I assure you I will give you advanced notice. In the mean time, thank you for reading, thank you for having the courage to share this journey with us, and most importantly thank you for keeping Mattie's memory alive.


As Mattie would say, Ooga Booga (meaning, I LOVE YOU)! Vicki and Peter



The Mattie Miracle Cancer Foundation celebrates its 7th anniversary!

The Mattie Miracle Cancer Foundation was created in the honor of Mattie.

We are a 501(c)(3) Public Charity. We are dedicated to increasing childhood cancer awareness, education, advocacy, research and psychosocial support services to children, their families and medical personnel. Children and their families will be supported throughout the cancer treatment journey, to ensure access to quality psychosocial and mental health care, and to enable children to cope with cancer so they can lead happy and productive lives. Please visit the website at: www.mattiemiracle.com and take some time to explore the site.

We have only gotten this far because of people like yourself, who have supported us through thick and thin. So thank you for your continued support and caring, and remember:

.... Let's Make the Miracle Happen and Stomp Out Childhood Cancer!

A Remembrance Video of Mattie

July 28, 2008

Monday, July 28th - Biopsy and CT Scan

Monday, July 28th, 2008 - We arrived at the hospital at 8am, and after waiting around for 25 minutes, Pete called Betsy Moran, the RN in the Pediatric Surgery ward. Five minutes later we were on our way to the ward. Mattie was scheduled for a bone biopsy of the right humerus as well as a CT Scan of the lungs to determine if the cancer had spread to the lungs.

After Mattie took some liquid containing Midazolam (an anti-anxiety drug also known as Versed), he was happy as a clam, watching Happy Feet on one of the center's portable DVD players and hanging out with his buddy Jenny, one of the art therapist from the Clinic, and Linda Kim, a Child Life Specialist, who normally handles the kids who are in-patient (i.e. stay at the hospital at least one night while under a treatment program). The Midazolam helped Mattie deal with the scary things that were going to happen to him, and we were pleased that he handled everything without getting upset or traumatized.

Linda brought with her a "Startlight" welcome bag complete with cool shades, a cup, pen, notebook and a sign-my-name pillow all contained in a neat green bag. The Starlight Program is specifically designed for kids who are dealing with any kind of serious and life-altering diseases/traumas. We need to learn more about this program, but Linda did provide us with a registration form, so we will go investigate the program. Jenny brought Mattie a Pirates of the Caribbean fold out book that expands into a 3-D play book complete with cut-out characters. So he was doing well in terms of preparing him for the day's activities.

On hand for the Procedure was quite a grouping of docs: Bob Henshaw came over from Childrens along with his lead Radiologist, Dr. James S. Jelinek, along with Dr. Allison Lax (a Pediatric Radiologist who performed the biopsy and CT Scan), Dr. Jivan, the Anesthesiologist who were quite wonderful and two additional Radiological Nurses. Dr. Toretsky stopped down during the procedure as well. The team reviewed Mattie's MRIs and the good news so far is that the cancer appears to be contained to just the upper portion of the humerus, but of course we need to check the rest of the body. Mattie went under general anesthesia (the agent used for the general anesthesia was Sevoflurane, and he had Propofol in addition to the Tylenol 3 and the Midazolam) so he is taking some time to come out of the fog and haze.

The Biopsy results are expected within three to four days and we already have a follow-up appointment with Dr. Toretsky on July 31st. The initial look at the cells from the biopsy practically confirms the clinical diagnosis of osteosarcoma, but we'll wait for the confirmation. The preliminary bloodwork looks good but we may need to do some follow-up work. The CT Scan was a little obscured so we may need to do another CT Scan on the lungs if the docs require it as we want the clarity and confidence. Last up in terms of the staging activities (i.e. the diagnostic tests requires to properly assign a stage for Mattie's cancer) should be the bone scan that is scheduled for August 1st (Friday), during which we will hopefully confirm that the cancer is not present in any other bones in the body.

For now, we will try to return to as much of a normal routine as possible. We need to be careful with Mattie's physcial activities because of the tumor in his arm, Mattie could break the bone quite easily if he plays rough. Mattie is now is reluctant to use his right arm all together so we just have to be aware of this whenever he moves.

Debbie Pollak, his art teacher from St. Stephens, is trying to accommodate Mattie's schedule this week to allow him to participate in a few days of the art camp that he was enrolled in this week. Bob Weiman, the Head of the Lower School at St. Stephens, has offered any help that he can, so we are once again surrounded with helpful and caring friends. Thank you Debbie and Bob!

Please keep your fingers crossed that this cancer has not spread to anywhere else. If the cancer is only isolated in his arm bone, then we are still looking at a year of chemo and surgical removal of his arm bone, and we would not have to worry about additional diagnostics or treatment regimens and a brighter prognosis.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi, this is Jennifer, Campbell's Godmother/friend of the Coopers. I was so shocked to hear about Mattie's cancer.

Though he has some rough times ahead, Mattie is a very special boy and I know that he will get through this. Please know that you're all in my thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.

Unknown said...

Hi, this is Marianne and Dave from WA. We just found out about Mattie's condition and are floored by the news.

You guys will be in our prayers and well wishes. If you need anything from us, just e-mail us at:

jimmyhk@mac.com

We'll definitely be lurking in your blog for the foreseeable future.