Tuesday, February 22, 2011 -- Mattie died 76 weeks ago today.Tonight's picture was taken in November of 2003. We took Mattie to a fall festival in Leesburg, VA, and as you can see he was fascinated by the miniature pumpkins. Mattie loved pumpkins! Actually everything about pumpkins.... from their color, their texture, and most definitely their taste. In fact, before I had Mattie, I disliked anything pumpkin flavored. However, after making pies, muffins, cookies, and soups from the insides of Mattie's pumpkins, I began to love the taste as much as he did. Somehow pumpkins will always remind me of Mattie.
Quote of the day: Where grief is fresh, any attempt to divert it only irritates. ~ Samuel Johnson
This afternoon, Peter and I headed over to the offices of Mercury, LLC (a high stakes public strategy firm). We are working with Brett Thompson, Managing Director, at Mercury, on developing a legislative agenda for the Mattie Miracle Cancer Foundation. I am not sure how we were lucky enough to get connected with Brett, but we are so grateful he is willing to share his time, expertise, and resources with us. Traveling around on the Hill can be challenging and tiring even on the best of days. I have certainly done this numerous times as a mental health advocate, but never advocating for something that was so near and dear to me. That actually makes the experience very different. However, Brett has a very charming, calming, natural, and competent demeanor that really made the hours walking and talking much easier. It is not easy to reiterate your personal story four times in a row. I noticed one thing about myself today. After about the second time telling the story, I was mentally tired. That has never happened to me before on the Hill, and the only thing I can attribute this to is the sheer fact that we personally battled cancer and lost the battle and lost our child! I was impressed with Peter's passion, his explanation of things, and Brett's help and guidance as we were discussing the legislative process and next steps in the meetings.
Our mission today was to introduce congressional staffers to our Foundation and to bring to their attention the psychological and social needs of children with cancer and their families. We told our story, we gave examples, we discussed the current legislation out there, and then we proposed their collaboration with us as we advocate for the inclusion of language for psychosocial awareness, education, and support in pediatric cancer care legislation. All FOUR offices were very interested in our discussions and
we look forward to our continued dialogue and discussions.
So I am happy to report that today was a success. We successfully reached out and made connections with legislators and what struck me immediately was each staff person we talked to was somehow personally touched by cancer. Which may explain their passion to work on health care legislation. One staffer emailed me us later in the day and commented to us that she knows today had to be hard for us, to relive our story countless times. A very sensitive and perceptive comment! Each staffer took their time to listen to us, provide thoughtful commentary, and to ask questions. In addition, they all had insights into our next steps and how they could be of help to us. So from our perspective, it couldn't have been a more positive first visit! Below you will find some pictures that Brett kindly took of us throughout our travels today! Brett knows I am a BIG picture person and that I never travel anywhere without my camera!
Laura Bunten at Congressman Michael McCaul's (R-TX) office
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