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

August 22, 2015

Saturday, August 22, 2015

Saturday, August 22, 2015

Tonight's picture was taken in August of 2007. Mattie was five years old, and in a way it is hard to believe that the following summer Mattie was diagnosed with cancer. When this photo was taken, we had no idea what was ahead of us. We took Mattie to the LA Zoo and I remember that we bought this purple fan and spray bottle that he was holding. He wanted it because it was an incredibly hot day. The irony is we still have this purple fan and bottle, and Peter uses it on hot days. It always reminds of that moment in time with Mattie.
Quote of the day: Teach thy tongue to say, “I do not know,” and thous shalt progress. ~ Maimonides



Today we went to visit the LA County Arboretum. This is a very special place to spend the day and I remember taking Mattie here many times! He loved it for so MANY reasons. 

The arboretum's plants are grouped by geography with gardens for South American, Mediterranean, South African, Australian and Asiatic-North American plants. Other displays include the Aquatic Garden, Meadowbrook, Demonstration Home Gardens, Garden for All Seasons, Prehistoric and Jungle Garden, Native Oaks, Herb Garden, and the Palm and Bamboo collection. The gardens also serve as the home for summer concerts featuring the Pasadena POPS.

The Arboretum is sited on a remaining portion of the Rancho Santa Anita, one of the Mexican land grants of Southern California. Rancho Santa Anita was unusual in that it was located above a large part of the Raymond Basin aquifer. Three sag ponds and numerous springs were found in the area and the only remaining one is now called Baldwin Lake. Lacy Park in the city of San Marino once was another sag pond and the precise location of the third is not known but may have been on the grounds of the Huntington Library and Botanic Garden. As a consequence of the relative abundance of water, it was important area in prehistory as a year round source of water, the body of water known as Baldwin Lake and the other sag ponds attracted both waterfowl and other animals as well as Native Americans. Not surprisingly the presence of water and game created a permanent Native American habitation in the area and is believed to have been the location of the Tongva village of Aleupkigna. The exact location of the village is unknown. The close proximity to the nearby San Gabriel Mission may have led to the construction of a small seasonal dwelling at the Arboretum site for shepherds or hunters which ultimately led to the construction of a modest adobe structure.

The site's modern history began in 1875 when Elias Jackson "Lucky" Baldwin purchased Rancho Santa Anita and constructed its buildings and grounds. Baldwin's influence was a strong presence on the site. A certain flamboyance was evident in the creation of a showcase at Santa Anita. Baldwin in some ways anticipated the development of Las Vegas creating Arcadia as a kind of prototype destination resort. The arboretum itself began in 1947 with California and Los Angeles jointly purchasing 111 acres to create an arboretum around the Baldwin site.

In addition, the arboretum is home to a flock of some 200 peafowl, which are descendants of original birds imported by Elias Jackson Baldwin from India. The peafowl is a symbol of the city of Arcadia.
















The Arboretum was featuring a new exhibit... an outdoor gallery which displayed the work of more than 80 artists from Arcadia, Pasadena, Altadena, the San Gabriel Valley and northern and southern California. The artists selected the exact spot in the garden they wanted to showcase their work.  



The Herb Garden showcases herbs and shrubs that contribute to human cultures around the world. The garden reveals the botanical sources for medicines, spices, textiles and other basics of living. What intrigued us and captured our noses while walking through that garden was this wonderful vine like structure of jasmine. It was SO large it looked like a tree covering a bench. 

This portion of the garden maybe the most famous. It is used as a set for many motion pictures. The rose garden was designed by noted landscape architect Edward Huntsmen Trout. The Rose Garden features heritage varieties with elegant pergolas and arbors, all in a setting of citrus and swaying Mexican fan palms.

On the property still stands Elias Jackson (“Lucky”) Baldwin’s Queen Anne Cottage, which was constructed in 1885-86, probably as a honeymoon gift for his fourth wife, sixteen-year-old Lillie Bennett. “For a year after she married Baldwin (May, 1884), this little girl was queen of the ranch,” wrote the Los Angeles Times. Lillie’s father, architect Albert A. Bennett, designed the cottage, but the honeymooners apparently never enjoyed its beauty. Lillie and E.J. separated in 1885, and the fanciful house was converted by its owner into a memorial to the third Mrs. Baldwin, Jennie Dexter, who had died in 1881. A stained glass portrait of Jennie stood welcome in the front door and an almost life-size oil painting of her was hung in the Cottage parlor. Both items remain today.

When I tell you it was HOT out, that would be an understatement. It was even too hot for me to walk! My mom and I walked a bit, but then we had to stop because it was oppressive. Only Mr. Lizard was out sunning himself. But most people were undercover! The lizard would have been a sight Mattie would have appreciated!




As we were leaving the garden, I spotted this... a wonderful butterfly. Butterflies are very symbolic to me of Mattie. When I see them fluttering around me, they remind me that Mattie is always with me. 

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