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

November 4, 2016

Friday, November 4, 2016

Friday, November 4, 2016


Tonight's picture was taken in November of 2005. Mattie was three years old. I am SO GLAD I snapped this photo. Mattie loved to jump all over our bed and spent a lot of time on the bed with me either reading books or we would watch Scooby Doo movies together. Not that I forgot these moments in time, but I am certainly happy I have photos to jog my memory. 









Quote of the day: Like children dreaming of a candy store, we live our lives in expectation and desire for reality to be different than it is. Joseph Rain


This evening, Sunny and I took a walk and met Peter down by the Potomac River on his way home from work. As the three of us were walking home, a couple in front of us kept turning their heads back to look at Sunny. No surprise to me.... Sunny made more friends. Sunny is that kind of dog. He is super loving and he truly reads people and dogs very well. He approaches dogs based on what he senses and I have to say the more aggressive or barking dogs, Sunny seems to pass without getting excited. He is just a cool cucumber! 

Any case, as we approached a traffic light, we all had to wait on the curb before crossing the street. It was at that point the couple started talking to me and of course interacted with Sunny. I told them that Sunny was a rescue dog, and that I honestly had no idea why his owner abandoned him. The woman in this duo told me about articles she read about rescue dogs and why some are abandoned. She said they get abandoned because they are too needy, attached, and need constant companionship and attention. As soon as she said that, I perked up and told her I was thinking that was the only explanation I came up with regarding Sunny! Because what she was saying describes Sunny to a T! 

The couple was lovely, and they too have a history of rescuing dogs. In any case, tonight I googled "needy" dog. The term that kept popping up was a "velcro dog." That is perfect, and indeed I have one. Sunny meets all the criteria. Symptoms of a velcro dog are:
  • Following you from room to room
  • Constantly needing or wanting to be next to you
  • Keeping an eye on you at all times
  • Anticipating when you may be getting up
  • Always wanting to be where the action is
The article below discussed the difference between a dog with separation anxiety and a velcro dog. I leave Sunny alone at home and I also bring him now and then to doggy day care, and he handles the separation just fine. But if I am around, chances are my shadow will be right next to me. I find it endearing, especially since I was looking for a close companion. But I can see how other dog owners may find this terribly annoying or disturbing. However, Sunny and I are a great match! 

Is your dog a "Velcro Dog?"......http://www.puppyleaks.com/dog-velcro-dog/


I received several photos this morning from our corporate sponsor, Dominion Consulting. Dominion is our largest corporate sponsor since 2011. This year, in addition to their financial support, they wanted to get involved in our projects. To this is what their office looked like this week!

I love this photo, because can't you see a caption over this lady's head?! The caption could read..... 'should I sort it or eat it?' Being around all this candy is indeed very tempting and I am always impressed how my volunteers and supporters show great restraint and truly value where the candy is going..... to support families caring for children with cancer. 
Dominion not only collected 123 pounds of candy, but also sorted all of it for us! The office had a sorting party last night and I hear it was a great success. People truly enjoyed it! 

I think people like sorting candy for different reasons, but whatever the reason, I always find the same result..... enjoyment. I am not sure if it is the sheer joy of being around all this sweet stuff, or if it is a matter of having face to face interactions and dialogues while sorting that makes the whole task a bonding experience. After all, NO electronics are necessary. Hands are not holding phones, but candy! 

What the sorting process looked like!





















The final product..... this is a sight for sore eyes. Candy sorted and in Ziploc bags. It doesn't get better than this! I have to admit when I see garbage bags filled with unsorted candy, it is down right overwhelming because it takes a lot of man power to sift through such volume. 

Meanwhile in Alexandria, this is what my friend Mary's collection is looking like. This is candy collected from the MacArthur Elementary School, the St. Stephen's and St. Agnes Middle School, and Fairlington Preschool. MacArthur and St. Stephen's have been donating candy to us for years. We welcome Fairlington Preschool this year. In fact, Mattie's preschool (Resurrection Children's Center) merged with Fairlington, and many of the teachers and the director of Mattie's school now reside at Fairlington Preschool. So they are carrying on Resurrection Children's Center's tradition of support.

1 comment:

Margy Jost said...

Hi Vicki,

I read all the blogs, I missed while away. I went from top to bottom, beginning with your mediation today to this blog. I stopped here to comment because while I have firmly established how much I love the pictures you post of Mattie, today's picture was truly wonderful.
I love pictures because special times don't leave us but a picture does jog the memory and return us to the time of the picture.

Your candy collection is impressive. The DC CANDLELIGHTERS/GROWING HOPE Pediatric Oncology holiday party hopes, like last year, to receive candy to give at our party.

I enjoyed reading about Sunny being a Velcro dog. I totally get this need of Sunny's. There is comfort in remaining physically close to someone that loves and cares for you. There is safety in this trait. Sunny is a smart dog!