Mattie Miracle 15th Anniversary Video

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 8, 2013

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Tonight's picture was taken in May of 2002. Mattie was only a month old, but look at his expression! If this doesn't scream out HELLO, I'm watching you and I'm very alert, I don't know what does!!! Mattie was a force, an energy, and very connected to me. In a way, I feel like I am living out some sort of cruel experiment that is trying to assess the impact of losing someone so important to my existence.  I had the chance to meet with someone else today who also lost a loved one. This person and I really do not know each other well, but guess what...... the perspective that grief will always be a part of us and time doesn't heal all wounds, are deeply shared between us.


Quote of the day: The greatest mistake in the treatment of diseases is that there are physicians for the body and physicians for the soul, although the two cannot be separated. ~ Plato

Tomorrow morning I have been asked to visit the Holton-Arms School in Bethesda, MD. I have been invited to the lower school's morning assembly to address all the girls and share some information with them about Mattie Miracle. I have become connected to this all girls school through Annie, a wonderful sixth grade Holton-Arms student who is a huge Mattie Miracle fan. Or as I call her, our "Mattie Miracle Ambassador." My faithful readers may remember that I went to Annie's school in March to support their Community Service Bazaar, of which Mattie Miracle was represented thanks to Annie. Annie serves on the community service committee of her school and she basically advocated for her School to fundraise for us next week. The School selects one charity per year to support and this year thanks to Annie, we have been selected. So I welcome the opportunity (despite the hour of the morning!!!) to get the word out about Mattie Miracle. Because of the age range of students, I figured a slide that illustrates what we are about would help them. A picture is always worth 1000 words.


As you can see, in the top row (left) is a photo of Annie and two of her friends at the Holton-Arms Bazaar. Within 45 minutes at the Bazaar these girls sold $200 worth of handcrafted merchandise. The top middle photo was taken at the 2011 Mattie Miracle Walk, the top right photo was Mattie Miracle's visit to the Build-a-Bear store with a local Alexandria Girl Scout troop. This Troop raised funds to build 100 bears and then as the third row (left) photo illustrates, the girls visited Georgetown University Hospital and distributed bears to patients and their siblings.

The second row (left) is a photo I took with Lauren Chelenza, the creator of Bows for Hope, at our 2011 Walk. Lauren is in 9th grade and developed her own non-profit to raise money solely for Mattie Miracle. Lauren is an osteosarcoma survivor and was diagnosed around the same time as Mattie. A week apart! The middle photo in the second row depicts our Hospital snack cart that we helped to establish and that we keep stocked. I think the middle right photo doesn't need much explanation..... that was me sitting with 1000 pounds of candy that the Foundation donated to the Hospital after our successful post-Halloween candy drive.

The third row middle photo illustrates, "Comfort Positioning." This is a technique that child life specialists train parents and other caregivers to provide to the patient. This type of positioning is used by the Child Life Specialist that Mattie Miracle helps to fund. This form of positioning helps comfort the patient during procedures and IVs. Lastly the photo on the bottom right was taken at one of check signing parties that we had at Georgetown University Hospital, funds which are used to endow the Mattie Miracle Child Life Program Fund.

Tomorrow's greeting to the girls has to be short and sweet, yet I want it to be memorable, and capture their attention. I believe it is crucial to energize the younger generation and empower them to participate. Age doesn't matter, kids can help make a difference in the lives of children with cancer. My new motto is..... if I have inspired Annie to want to advocate on behalf of Mattie Miracle, then I am doing something right!

No comments: