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

September 25, 2017

Monday, September 25, 2017

Monday, September 25, 2017

Tonight's picture was taken in June of 2009. Mattie was in the outpatient clinic that day and behind him in a wheelchair was Jessie. Jessie was one of Mattie's outstanding art therapists. They were having a wheelchair race in the clinic, something that Mattie appreciated. Despite the tight space within the clinic, that did not stop the fun from occurring. Which to me speaks to the level of skill of Mattie's art therapists. They always thought outside the box and put the child's best interests FIRST. 


Quote of the day: I have found that when you are deeply troubled, there are things you get from the silent devoted companionship of a dog that you can get from no other source. ~ Doris Day


I have no idea what woke me up at 2am this morning, but I was wide awake and couldn't go back to sleep. I got up several times and tried walking around but then decided to turn on the TV. I have a pair of head phones by my nightstand, so I can listen to the TV without Peter hearing it. Fortunately the light of the TV flickering did not seem to bother him last night. I was up for a good two hours. Not really sure why! Around 2:30am, I was sitting in bed watching TV and trying to be quiet, and then all of a sudden I feel a great big thump on the bed. Sunny apparently heard me stirring and came upstairs to find out what my issue was, since it was out of character for me to be up at that hour. Sunny comes on our bed every morning between 4 and 5am. But 2:30am was early even for him. 

Typically when Sunny jumps on our bed, he heads to Peter's side, since Peter is the first one up in the morning. Sunny keeps a close bead on Peter. But at 2:30am today, Sunny did not head to Peter, but instead directly to me. He literally sat by my side and put his head right near my hip, and put a paw on my lap. We held hand and paw together for at least thirty minutes, as he was falling back asleep. This was a totally unusual occurrence and a part of me felt that Sunny understood something wasn't right.

I unfortunately do not know much about Sunny's background, as he was rescued from South Carolina. But I am convinced that Sunny was someone's emotional support dog. Not a therapy or service dog, which requires more training, but he shows all the classic signs of being used to providing a human comfort. Desirable characteristics in an emotional support dog are similar to those for therapy dogs, with a few exceptions. Most people seeking a dog for emotional support are looking for a loyal, highly-bonded pet. Ironically therapy dogs are more indiscriminate with their affection. Emotional support dogs are tasked with maintaining the mental well-being of their pet parents, usually through their calming presence and affection. 

Sunny has many skills but his top two...... 1) he bonds closely with one owner, and stays by that person's side. In Sunny's case, I am that person. and 2) Sunny craves affection and loves to give it. You can just see his whole demeanor change when you pet him. He absolutely loves it and if dogs could smile, that is Sunny! Mind you I did not pick Sunny because I wanted an emotional support dog, but in essence we are a good match for each other. 

I can't thank Sunny for his companionship last night, but I have a feeling he knows he is loved in many other ways. In fact, today when I came back home from being out, I bought him a home baked oatmeal dog biscuit! Needless to say, it was a hit and demolished in minutes!

1 comment:

Margy Jost said...

Vicki,

I want a Sunny! Thank you for sharing what an insightful dog, Sunny is!