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 11, 2015

Sunday, May 10, 2015

Sunday, May 10, 2015

Tonight's picture was taken on Mother's Day of 2007. We went out for brunch together in Maryland, at one of Mattie's favorite restaurants. This restaurant has a huge pond out front with turtles in it and fish. Mattie loved it and when he got tired of sitting still inside the restaurant, Peter would take Mattie outside for an adventure. In this photo Mattie was posing for the camera and with his arms he was trying to express how much he loved me, which was very sweet! A lovely mother's day gift to remember. 






Quote of the day: Mothers hold their children’s hands for a short while, but their hearts forever. ~ Author Unknown

Though on some level I knew today was Mother's Day, I was so busy with Foundation Walk plans, I literally worked the entire day. From the moment I woke up, until I stopped to write this blog tonight. I am not sure if that is a good or a bad thing. Working so intensely comes at a high price, but it is what it takes to get the job done to pull off such a fundraiser for our Foundation. It is the complexities of running a company without a staff. 

I am happy to report that our fundraising total so far is over $51,000, and our 17 teams have currently raised over $15,000! It is beyond impressive what a group of committed people have achieved in a month's time!

I received many lovely emails today from friends, which I am very grateful for, one of which was from our lead psychologist who is working with us on our National standards project. She wanted me to know that she considers me the "mother of the National Psychosocial Standards Project." A very high honor given the person paying me the compliment and also the whole notion of what these standards represent (care for all children with cancer). This comment has stayed with me the entire day and probably will for quite some time to come!

The origin of Mother's day in the United States is worth reflecting on. It did not start out as a holiday of commercialism. Instead, it all started after a woman lost her mom and wanted to pay tribute to her........................................  

The origin of Mother's Day in the US: In the United States, Mother's Day did not become an official holiday until 1915. Its establishment was due largely to the perseverance and love of one daughter, Anna Jarvis. Anna's mother had provided strength and support as the family made their home in West Virginia and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where her father served as a minister. As a girl, Anna had helped her mother take care of her garden, mostly filled with white carnations, her mother's favorite flower. When Mrs. Jarvis died on May 5, 1905, Anna was determined to honor her. She asked the minister at her church in West Virginia to give a sermon in her mother's memory. On the same Sunday in Philadelphia, their minister honored Mrs. Jarvis and all mothers with a special Mother's Day service. Anna Jarvis began writing to congressmen, asking them to set aside a day to honor mothers. In 1910, the governor of West Virginia proclaimed the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day and a year later every state celebrated it.

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My friend and colleague, Jean, sent me a Mother's Day email message. It is a message that was circulated through a mother's group. I found it so meaningful regarding the loss of a child that I decided to post it below:

Before we head into Mother’s Day Weekend, I just wanted to remind you to reach out to your friends who’ve lost children. It’s hard to talk about this, but we can do hard things. What I’ve learned from Jessica and from hundreds of other bereaved mamas is that there is nothing we can do or say to make it better. Just not a thing. It’s the worst thing in the world, losing a child. It is the ultimate tragedy, pain unparalleled -- and nothing helps.

But there is something that makes it worse for the mother -- and that’s when others stop mentioning the angel she lost. I’ve come to believe that friends don’t fall away because they don’t care, but because they don’t know what to say to their friend to make it better.

And so what I’m suggesting is that you shouldn’t worry about that, because you can’t make it better. You can’t fix a friend's grief, but that’s okay because grief isn’t supposed to be fixed. It’s not something we need to grab from away from each other. Grief is holy. Your friend doesn’t want it taken away from her. Sometimes a mama’s boundless grief is the only proof she has left that she loved boundlessly. Great grief is the price of great love. So forget about making it better. Just call, or email and say: I am thinking of you. And of your baby. And I love you. And I’m so sorry. You are not alone.

That’s all, That’s all we can do. We don’t have to make it better. We just have to remember. You know that word: remember? I love it. Opposite of dismember. Remember means to put back together. To become whole. When we remember each other, we put our human family back together. We belong to each other.

And to you, to you who’ve lost mothers, and to you, whose mothers were never able to mother you at all. And to you, dying to be a mama but not one yet. And to you, whose baby made someone else a mama, too. I’m remembering you today. Remember Each Other.
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I end tonight with two photos of Mattie's fountains. Peter cleaned them out today and got them working again after a long winter. Peter does this for me every Mother's Day in honor of Mattie. Mattie and Peter created these fountains for me back in July of 2008, for my birthday. 


Mattie's second fountain. When Peter and I go away to the beach we collect shells. I always add new shells to the fountain in honor of Mattie. 


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