Tonight's picture was taken in the summer of 2009. Mattie was reaching the end of his cancer journey, and our friends gave us a bunch of beautiful flowers. I believe the flowers were meant for my mom, but Mattie claimed them instead. Peter snapped this picture of Mattie, and we use this picture quite often in our Foundation materials. If you look closely, you will see Mattie is surrounded by Legos! Since today represented our first public event to raise awareness for pediatric cancer, I thought this would be a very appropriate picture to post.
Poem of the day: Along Grief’s Journey by Ferna Lary
I hear little children laughing
and the sound brings my soul such pain.
Yet I know in my heart that life goes on
and I must learn to live again.
Some days I stay so busy
I don’t even realize you’re gone.
Then there are all of those other days when
I feel like I can’t go on.
Sometimes I think I dreamed you…
that you never existed for real.
You’ve been gone so long and I’m just not strong
for my life has become surreal.
They tell me it’s time to let go
and build a new life without you.
But the builder is weak and I can’t even speak
and I don’t know what else to do.
How long will this pain last, Lord?
How many tears have I already cried?
It seems like forever since my world fell apart
when my loved one died.
The Mattie Miracle Cancer Foundation's first annual pediatric cancer walk was a GREAT success! In all estimation we had close to 400 people in attendance. The amazing part was the weather. It was raining all morning, and then just in time for the event set up, things began to clear. Ann and I discussed where the Walk should be held, inside or outside, and I very much wanted it outside. Within minutes, teams of volunteers mobilized into action and the baseball field at the St. Stephen's and St. Agnes School was transformed. What can I say about our volunteers? Other than we would be lost without them, and that you make our lives far better and richer. We want to especially thank the following people:
Tamra Bensten, Liza May, Dave Holm, Johnny Rivera, and Mary Rivera for their incredible logistic support! What an amazing team, and I couldn't have asked for better coordination. Mary, Mattie's video was SO touching and I am happy we had this special memorial present at the Walk.
Christine Cooper for her outstanding level of organization at registration. She made the process run very smoothly and effectively for all attendees!
Debbie Keefe and Sue Whitney for their outstanding efforts and creativity with children's crafts and games! I know they made many children happy today! A special thank you to Debbie for helping to transport tables!
Caroline Coker and Mary Doane for their amazing work on the raffle. The raffle was a VERY popular stop at today's event, and it is due greatly to this team's incredible organization and dedication.
Ellen Gehrs for lining up and coordinating over 80 volunteers today at the event. We needed all this support to run every activity smoothly!
Margaret Sharkey and Susan Scharf for their creativity, passion, and enthusiasm as they represented us at the Foundation Table!
Danelle Fortune for reaching out to the community and securing 10 local vendors at the event. The vendors donated at least 25% of their proceeds to the Foundation.
Patty Tilch and Junko Funahashi for their amazing food displays and service. Servicing a large crowd is no easy task, and this team out did themselves this year. Also MANY, MANY thanks to everyone in the community who donated food items to today's walk!
Marisa Tordella for her beautiful bake sale display, and for treating me with lots of goodies during the walk!
Larry Jenney for his outstanding ability to effectively manage and coordinate the rock climbing wall at the Walk.
Tanja Mayer Harding for helping the Foundation from 8am until we were all done with clean up! Her efforts were greatly appreciated!
A special thank you to all the GW, SSSAS, and TC Williams students who volunteered today! Your presence was greatly appreciated.
Marisa Tordella for her beautiful bake sale display, and for treating me with lots of goodies during the walk!
Larry Jenney for his outstanding ability to effectively manage and coordinate the rock climbing wall at the Walk.
Tanja Mayer Harding for helping the Foundation from 8am until we were all done with clean up! Her efforts were greatly appreciated!
A special thank you to all the GW, SSSAS, and TC Williams students who volunteered today! Your presence was greatly appreciated.
Last but certainly not least, Peter and I want to thank Ann Henshaw, our Walk Chair for her tireless efforts. For listening to all our goals and desires for this event, and making them a reality!
It was a very busy day for us. Peter and I arrived at the walk location at 7:50am. Peter was interviewed by Fox 5 TV, and the interview was LIVE. Many of our attendees had the opportunity to see this telecast, and I was VERY proud of Peter for what he was able to accomplish on the air in a short period of time. He represented the Foundation in a very professional, eloquent, and passionate way. Mattie would have been proud of him! Later on in the day, Fox 5 came back, and interviewed me. We can't thank this network enough for their interest in our story, and their support for pediatric cancer awareness.
There were SO many special highlights of the event. Which I hope to share with you over the course of the next couple of days. The first was Sean Swarner, our featured speaker. Sean did a wonderful job sharing his life stories with us, and I particularly loved his analogy between battling cancer and mountain climbing. I had never thought about that before, but it made sense. You can't climb further up a mountain until your body is physically ready. Similarly you can't continue the cancer battle and receive more treatment until your body is ready with the appropriate white blood cell counts. Sean captured the attention of both young and old, and I had many parents come up to me and tell me how Sean's story caught the attention of their children! Excellent, and music to my ears, because pediatric cancer awareness doesn't only pertain to adults.
The Georgetown University Hospital nurses, doctors, and staff attendance was impressive. I am so happy the nurses had a table at the event, and the childlife model magic table was an immense success! Having these wonderful individuals with us today, made the event very special for me. Since many of these women became like family to me!
The spirit and energy of today were contagious. You have to stop and be in awe of the people we are surrounded by. In many respects I feel as if many people would move mountains for us if that were possible, and their commitment to us is humbling. Mattie's story has affected not just us, but our community, and when I am in doubt of that, I must reflect on today's event. I appreciated every conversation I had today, every hug, every story, and the chance to hear that you feel we are making a difference. I particularly loved hearing that you learned something from the Walk!
As we were talking today, I noticed out of the corner of my eye a familiar face. Who was it? But our graphic artist, Kristen Johnson. Kristen did all her work for us pro bono, and seeing her at the walk today was very powerful to me. It further confirmed that we selected the RIGHT person to work with us. This was NOT just another project to Kristen, this was personal. I shared in Kristen's excitement to see the beautiful LOGO everywhere. I am so happy she could see it displayed so well, since this really was the logo's official debut.
I loved seeing Peter's Arthur Andersen and Voxiva colleagues and so appreciate their steadfast support! I also enjoyed seeing all the children! Mattie would have loved this event, and I know he was looking down smiling today, because once the event started we DID NOT receive ONE drop of rain. In fact, the sun came out! My Mr. Sun came out to say, "hi mom, thank you for keeping my spirit alive!"
Below is the first set of photos I will be posting! Enjoy them, and THANK YOU all for your incredible support!
Left: The arrival of the 26 foot rock climbing wall.
Right: Inside the Foundation Tent, where many of Mattie's items were on display! Including a small framed print of Mattie's Mr. Sun painting.
Left: Margaret and Susan working at the Foundation Table. For today's event only, with a donation, free gifts were available! 
Left: Peter (our Foundation Treasurer), Sean Swarner, and my Dad.
Right: Karen, my lifetime friend, taping posters down, so they wouldn't fly away with the wind and rain.
Left: Annie came up to me today and showed me her face painting. One cheek said Mattie and the other was painted with the word miracle.
Right: Debbie, Mattie's art teacher, designed very special cookies for the walk's bake sale. Praying cranes! Mattie would have been the first one to eat this cookie. He would have loved the shape and the fact that it wasn't chocolate!
Left: Pictured from left to right is CR (one of Mattie's wonderful HEM/ONC nurses), Jim (Brandon's dad), Toni (Brandon's mom) and Jenny (one of Mattie's wonderful HEM/ONC nurses).
Left: Pictured from left to right is Hannah (Jocelyn's sister), Jocelyn (Mattie's very good buddy from the Lombardi Clinic), and her fiance, Brian.
Left: SSSAS fifth graders performing during the magic show. I had to take a picture of the famous Mattie Brown Peanut Butter Booger Trick! Mattie no doubt was smiling over this.
Left: Lesley (one of Mattie's favorite Childlife Interns), Brandon (Mattie's great buddy), and Whitney (one of Mattie's favorite Childlife Interns).
Left: Pictured from left to right is my mom, Kelly (Tricia's daughter), Nicole (Tricia's daughter), Tricia (a HEM/ONC nurse that Mattie loved), Vicki, Kyle (Tricia's son), and Katherine (Georgetown University Hospital's HEM/ONC nurse educator)Right: Pictured from left to right is Karen, Amany (Vicki's good friend from the George Washington University), Maya (Amany's daughter), and Tarek (Amany's son).
Left: Maya (Mattie's good friend from the Lombardi Cancer Clinic) and Ann! Ann just announced that Maya won a raffle item. A sailing excursion, Maya was thrilled!
Right: Ann giving Susan Sestak (the wife of Rep. Joe Sestak, D-PA) the raffle item she won! We deeply appreciate Susan's support!
Left: Vicki with several of the George Washington University Volunteers!
Right: Pictured from left to right is CR (short for Cecelia Rose), Vicki, Tricia, Katherine, Peter, and Jenny.
I would like to end tonight's posting with a message from my friend, Charlie. Charlie wrote, "I was so disappointed to see that it is still raining this morning. Although the forecast is for rain for the next few days I hope it takes a break this afternoon in time for all the Mattie Walk events. You and all the Mattie supporters have dedicated so many hours to making this event happen; I pray it goes even better than you hope it will. In any case, I hope it gets lots of positive media attention, and raises both funds and awareness of pediatric cancer and particularly osteosarcoma. As I practice today and go through the necessary meetings I will be thinking of you and sending you my energy to help you and all who are there supporting you, to have a day in which you accomplish all you set out to do. I hold you gently in my thoughts and pray for your success."
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