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 17, 2012

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Tonight's picture was taken in May of 2009 at the Mattie March. Mattie was sitting next to Zachary. Zachary and Mattie practically grew up together, and became instant friends in preschool. Actually on the first day of preschool to be exact. It was almost friendship at first sight! During the Mattie March, Zachary stayed right next to Mattie the entire time, despite the fact that Mattie was in a wheelchair, looking ill, and clearly was different from the friend Zachary once knew. Their friendship continued. Mattie and Zachary were both very active and their play (when Mattie was healthy) involved running around and being boys. However, when Mattie had cancer, this type of play was no longer possible. Sometimes when the commonalities between people end, so does the friendship. However, amazingly, despite their physical differences these two did not miss a beat with each other, and they found their own way to play and to interaction that worked!

Quote of the day: Without courage, we can not practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest. ~ Maya Angelou

Peter and I literally worked the entire day. Neither one of us ever stopped moving. I am sure to our blog readers, you must be asking yourself, what is Vicki doing? What could she possibly be doing for this Walk that requires this much time, planning, and attention? I don't know the answer to this question, other than the logistics of running such an event are enormous. Peter spent the day helping and getting a lot of Walk tasks completed and at one point, he turned to me and said.... "I am getting a good glimpse at what your days and weeks have been like!" Coming from Peter, the king of multi-tasking, I viewed that as a high compliment.

This morning, I had the opportunity to see my friends Junko and Carolyn. They both came over to pick up things for the Walk and to lighten the load of what I would need to carry to the Walk on Sunday. Seeing both of them really helped to break up my day. Carolyn bestowed upon me wonderful chocolates and these beautiful gerber daisies in bright Mattie colors! I am a big gerber daisy fan, so this perked me up, which isn't easy to do in my current state. I certainly did not expect this lovely surprise, but I guess it is in the unexpected that one can feel special and appreciated.
This evening we headed to the airport to pick up my parents, who arrived in from Los Angeles. They will be with us for a week, as they always come to support the Walk. When Mattie was alive, their trips to Washington, DC were quite frequent. Now they come once a year for the Walk. Coming to DC, I would imagine, has significant Mattie memories for them and is an emotional experience.


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