Thursday, May 24, 2012

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Tonight's picture was taken in June of 2008. A month before Mattie was diagnosed with cancer. He was posing for a picture between his two close kindergarten buddies, Charlotte and Campbell. The event they attended  was their end of the year kindergarten party at a local park. By that point, these three were inseparable and got along beautifully as a twosome or a threesome. I think it was rather ironic, that as our children became friends, so did the moms. Ellen is Charlotte's mom and Christine is Campbell's mom, and these two moms remain in my life as friends and Mattie Miracle supporters.


Quote of the day: As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. ~ John Fitzgerald Kennedy


I said my good-byes to my parents today, and then ran around doing chores. Most likely this was not a smart decision, since I am feeling very sick.... feverish, congestion, or in other words, flu like symptoms. Peter and I are scheduled to go to the beach tomorrow and stay at our friend Ellen's home for a week. I need to get away from work to regain strength, energy, and health. At the moment, I am feeling absolutely miserable. I would like to share six more pictures with you tonight from the Foundation's Third Annual Walk.

In this picture from left to right is: Virginia (Vicki's mom), Maya (Mattie's good friend from the Lombardi Clinic), Adina (Maya's mom), and Vicki. Mattie wasn't looking to establish friendships within the hospital. Yet there were three kids/teens he allowed into his life. One was Brandon, the second was Jocelyn, and the third was Maya. Maya was the only kid close to Mattie's age that he related to. I will never forget how they became friends. It all happened around the art table in clinic. Maya was getting an IV treatment and while she was sitting with other kids doing art around the table, she expressed how she did not like needles. Out of NO where, Mattie responded to her comment and said he could relate. From that point on, they became close buddies and if they were in the clinic at the same time, rest assured they were playing together. They painted a rainbow on a clinic ceiling tile together. That rainbow still exists in the clinic today. They also acted out many space alien plays together, several of which I caught on video.

Pictured here are Bridget and Brandon. Bridget is a Hotchkins Lymphoma Survivor, and still battling with the active disease. Brandon is a Lymphoma survivor and Mattie's big buddy. Both Bridget and Brandon fought cancer at the same time Mattie did. I had the pleasure of getting to know both families while living in the hospital and I only wish it was under better circumstances that we were united together.

Pictured from left to right are Cathy (Bridget's mom), Bridget, George (Bridget's dad), Brandon, and Toni (Brandon's mom).

Pictured from left to right are Austin (Christine's son), Vicki, Jocelyn (an osteosarcoma survivor and a good buddy to Mattie), and Brian (Jocelyn's husband). Jocelyn helped Mattie during very difficult adjustment points in his treatment. She understood what it meant to have limb salvaging surgery and the struggle to regain strength and to become rehabilitated. Mattie related to Jocelyn's honesty and perspective, and he appreciated that he wasn't alone in his battle with the disease.

This is a picture of Tricia's family. Tricia was one of Mattie's favorite HEM/ONC nurses and she and her family support us in extraordinary ways. They follow us through the blog, Facebook, and have attended every single Walk. From left to right is Vicki, Nicole, Peter, Tricia, Kyle, and Kellie.

This picture was actually one of the very last pictures I took at the Walk. This is a picture of Karen and me. As my faithful readers know, Karen and I have been friends since I was 11 years old. Karen worked the entire day and night right along side us and we needed all the extra physical and emotional support we could get.