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

May 25, 2011

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Tuesday, May 24, 2011 -- Mattie died 89 weeks ago today.

Tonight's picture was taken in July of 2007. You can see two things from this picture. The first one was that Mattie LOVED Lightning McQueen, the car character from the Disney movie. The other thing Mattie loved was building, stacking, and creating.  Mattie's friend from preschool was moving to California, and Mattie inherited his friend's blocks. Mattie loved them and in many ways despite it being 89 weeks since Mattie's death it is hard to accept that he and his toys are no longer surrounding us! 

Quote of the day: There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are messengers of overwhelming grief…and unspeakable love. ~ Washington Irving

I began my morning by crying. I had a visitor to my home today and she recently had a baby. She wanted to show me pictures of the baby and of her three sons. As she was talking she then realized that perhaps this was bothering me. At one point she stopped talking and she began crying. She was crying because she remembered Mattie and she wanted me to know that I was a good mom. She paused because in a way she couldn't understand how she could have three healthy children and I now have none. A brilliant question, but as we know there are NO brilliant answers. As I told her, talking about her children is a good thing and a natural thing. She shouldn't stop this just because of my situation. I also told her that I was happy that her children were so important to her since she should consider herself fortunate to have ones who are alive and healthy.

Peter and I received over 300 professional photographs today from Herman Farrer. Herman covered our Walk this year and he did an amazing job! I feel he captured the spirit of the event as well as the incredible expressions on people's faces. I will be sharing these photos with you very soon! For those of you unable to attend the walk, I believe you will get a good glimpse of the activities and excitement of the day from these photos.

My parents and I spent the day together and it is hard to believe they are leaving on Thursday. It seems like they just got here. But with a Walk falling in between their visit, time just zooms by. This evening, I took my mom to the Kennedy Center to see the musical Follies. This was a late Mother's day present. I happen to be a big Bernadette Peters fan, and was excited to be able to see her perform again live. Follies is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. The story concerns a reunion in a crumbling Broadway theatre, scheduled for demolition, of the past performers of the "Weismann's Follies," a musical revue (based on the Ziegfeld Follies), that played in that theatre between the World Wars. It focuses on two couples, Buddy and Sally Durant Plummer and Benjamin and Phyllis Rogers Stone, who are attending the reunion. Sally and Phyllis were showgirls in the Follies. Both couples are deeply unhappy with their marriages. Buddy, a traveling salesman, is having an affair with a girl on the road; Sally is still as much in love with Ben as she was years ago; and Ben is so self-absorbed that Phyllis feels emotionally abandoned. Several of the former showgirls perform their old numbers, sometimes accompanied by the ghosts of their former selves.


I found the musical depressing in content, the music was not memorable, and worst of all, I was saddened to hear Bernadette Peters' decline. Her voice has lost its luster, range, and vibrancy. In fact, I wish I did not see this play because I would prefer to remember her for the stage presence and gift that she had and which made her so memorable.

I appreciate so many Walk attendees sending me pictures! I would like to share some more with you tonight. Stay tuned for more pictures coming soon!


Mattie's close kindergarten buddy, Campbell, was at the Foundation Table at the Walk making a donation with his own money! He is a cutie and keeps Mattie's memory alive.



















The family featured in this photo lives in VA, NJ, and PA. Some of the family members actually traveled to get to our event! What you should know is the children shown here raised over $200 in contributions. They solicited their friends and also contributed their own money. These are children who NEVER met Mattie! Simply amazing!










This was an event for ALL ages! This cutie was one of our youngest attendees. She came all the way from Seattle, WA!




















In the midst of running around, I sometimes forget to take pictures with my friends at the event. Margaret, my friend and Mattie's preschool teacher, captured Karen and I for a split second before I jumped to the next activity!


I would like to end tonight's posting with two messages. The first message is from Kristen, Mattie's oncologist and my friend. Kristen and her son, Conor, attended the event, and I will share a picture of them shortly! Kristen wrote, "It was so wonderful for me to finally be witness to Mattie's walk! Congratulations on your success!!!!  I enjoyed seeing your parents Vicki and having an opportunity to talk/walk with them for a bit.  And...as today is Tuesday...I send you my thoughts this day and every day."

The second message is from my friend and colleague, Nancy. Nancy wrote, "I've been looking at the blog over the last few days and was able to feel the energy of the walk through your pictures. What a tribute to all of Team Mattie and especially Peter and you as you assembled this magnificent group of people to Walk the walk towards awareness of Pediatric Cancer and its impact on children and their families. It was wonderful to see Lauren and Noah looking so well. May they continue to thrive. The video tribute was wonderful too. Mattie resembled you at an early age. His look was unmistakable from 6 months on. As I looked at the collection of pictures, many of them already shown on the blog, I could see his desire to put on a brave face. His eyes are what gave him away. They showed his fatigue and at times, pain, during those hard months for all of you.  Something else I saw was the love and attention that the staff gave to him. Somehow each of these special human beings were able to maintain energy and spirit while working with Mattie. His many interests were encouraged and it is clear how difficult it is to part with any of his creations. I was happy to read that you reached your monetary goal and know that support will only increase following this successful endeavor."

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