Mattie Miracle Walk 2023 was a $131,249 success!

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

December 22, 2010

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Tuesday, December 21, 2010 -- Mattie died 67 weeks ago today.

Tonight's picture was taken in December of 2008, Mattie's last Christmas with us. Of course at the time, I had no idea this was going to be our last Christmas together. Perhaps not knowing was a good thing. That particular night, we took Mattie to Zoo Lights, at the National Zoo in Washington, DC. This is a special event in which the Zoo is opened at night with magical light displays. Mattie was joined by his cousins: Nat, Sydney, and Will, and some of his preschool friends: Kate, Eric, John, and Christopher on this adventure! The one thing I recall about Christmas 2008, was it was VERY hard for Mattie. He was in a great deal of pain, he was upset because he was different from the other kids, and emotionally he was very down and angry. This of course translated down to Peter and I, and it took great strength to keep it together during that time. So unfortunately our last Christmas together was memorable, but NOT in a positive way at all.  

Quote of the day: Thank you for letting me talk and letting me cry. Thank you for cheerful hello's and tearful goodbye's. Thank you for asking questions and saying her name. Thank you for not understanding but sharing my pain. ~ Jacqueline Savageau

Peter and I made it safely to Los Angeles, but what a flight we had. As many of my readers know, flying is not my favorite mode of transportation. The plane left Washington, DC about 45 minutes late. Why? Because each time the plane left the gate, it was sent right back! At least twice!!! I never experienced this before. Our flight was overbooked and literally the plane was taxing away from the gate when the rest of us observed a man still standing in the aisle. This man did not have a seat, yet no one noticed this until we were away from the gate! So naturally once the flight attendants realized what was happening, the plane was sent right back to the gate to drop off the man who did not have a seat. The door closed again and the plane taxied away. While we were moving, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a woman behind us jump up and grab her luggage in the overhead compartment. She then ran up toward the front of the plane and guess what? She wanted to get off the plane because she realized her boyfriend wasn't on it. He was the person asked to get off the plane. So yet again, the plane was sent right back to the gate for a second time. By this point, all of us were laughing, because this was like a comedy show! Eventually we took off and contended with a lot of turbulence. Between being confined in such a small space for almost 6 hours and dealing with all that motion, I am thoroughly worn out tonight. Also I think poor Peter is finally getting feeling back in his hand now, after I had a death grip on it for hours!
Needless to say, we are here safely, but only after a very wild roller coaster ride as we landed. Los Angeles has been inundated with rain for over a week now and we landed through some very thick and ominous clouds.
On Monday night, Peter was very up and very energized over the lunar eclipse. He took some amazing pictures and at 3am he woke me up so I could see this once in a lifetime sight. The moon before my eyes was a brilliant red! I thought I was looking at a red planet and NOT the moon! In a way I couldn't help but think of Mattie when I saw this incredible sight. The moon was reflecting his color. It was a true Mattie Moon!

Peter took many pictures last night, and I am sharing three of them with you. These three photos show you the progression of the eclipse that Peter saw last night.



















Isn't this an incredible sight?!

















I would like to end tonight's posting with a very touching message we received from Mattie's oncologist and our friend, Kristen. Kristen captured the essence of Mattie's spirit in last night's moon beautifully. Kristen wrote, "I've been thinking of you a lot lately because of the Holidays and in the last day or so because of the Lunar Eclipse. I can't help but think of Mattie's Moon. Today is the Winter Solstice and the shortest day (or darkest day) of the year. I heard the last time a full moon was totally eclipsed on the Winter Solstice was in 1554 but read on your blog the last Winter Solstice was 1638. Either way...quite a long time ago. I can't help but believe Mattie is talking to you from heaven saying "Even on the darkest day of the year, even when you can not see me behind the shadows, I am here..."

No comments: