Monday, May 18, 2015

Monday,  May 18, 2015

Tonight's picture was taken in May of 2008. Literally only two months before Mattie was diagnosed with cancer. To me, Mattie looked like the picture of health and NOTHING was bothering him at that point. He had NO SYMPTOMS. Who on earth would have guessed how profoundly our world would have changed by July of that year? As you can see here, Mattie was on our deck designing one of his play schemes. Mattie's inventions were always creative, yet functional! Typically hot wheel cars were involves and because we were on the deck, I have no doubt that Mattie incorporated a water element into the scene. 


Quote of the day: Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world. ~ Harriet Tubman

I am profoundly tired today and most likely will be for the next week or so. As we await the photos from our professional photographer, I am very grateful that friends posted Walk photos on their Facebook sites and even shared them us! I am passing along some of the great photos captured by supporters at our event. What I love about this photo is it captures the ominous  clouds above. There was a threat of intense rain all day long. We had many close calls on Sunday with the weather! Where it looked like we were going to get a terrible storm! But in true Mattie fashion, he made sure that it wouldn't rain on Walk day!!! As usual he did not disappoint! The photo also captures the wonderful visual that the challenge cup wall produced this year! People earned a colorful cup per lap, which then got placed in the chain link wall! There were 17 Walk teams, and each team was assigned a unique color. Non-team walkers also received a color!

Before the Walk began, Peter and I both gave a greeting and you will notice there are ladies behind us with Hawaiian Leis on. By the way I flew the leis in from Oahu! I explained that an orchid lei was chosen because the orchid is a flower that is unique and distinctive. Just like the 11 women being honored. These 11 outstanding Mattie Miracle workers contributed to the fundraising and leadership of this year's Walk and we feel they deserved to be acknowledged and celebrated! They are:

1. Peggy Lampl Elkind
2. Rebecca Jacks Fischer
3. Charlotte Gehrs
4. Ali Sharkey Goldwater
5. Ann Henshaw
6. Debbie Wood Keefe
7. Haley Leis
8. Christina Savage Lytle
9. Carolyn McFadden
10. Jane Pisano
11. Patricia Tilch

Pictured from left to right are Toni, Vicki, Gigi, and Ashley. Toni is Brandon's mom, Ashley is Brandon's sister, and Gigi is Brandon's niece. 

Mattie was very close to Brandon and called him his "best friend." Brandon was diagnosed with cancer around the same time as Mattie and they went through their treatments together. Mattie felt that Brandon understood him. Brandon's family comes to the Walk every year and Brandon's niece and Mattie share the same birthday date...... April 4th!

Summary of the awards given out at the Walk. We congratulate all our teams for their amazing fundraising and advocacy work they did on behalf of childhood cancer and Mattie Miracle.......................

1. Top Adult Individual Fundraiser Award: Peggy Elkind ($2,987)

2. Top Teen Individual Fundraiser Award: Haley Leis ($1,478)

3. Top Team Fundraising Award: RCC Moms Rock ($4,947)

4. Team with Largest Number of Registered Participants: Blessed Sacrament Bullfrogs

5. Team Spirit Award: KW & Friends

6. Challenge Wall Winners (team with most laps walked): Blessed Sacrament Bullfrogs