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

October 28, 2017

Saturday, October 28, 2017

Saturday, October 28, 2017

Tonight's picture was taken in October of 2007. Mattie was five years old and by that point LOVED going to Fall Festivals. Our DC area has many of them. In fact, Peter and I were just talking about this today, as we were driving out to Frederick, Maryland for the day. This car trip reminded us of the countless times we took Mattie to Butler's Orchard. Which does an incredible Fall Festival and also a wonderful Bunnyland, at Easter time. 

This photo was taken at Leesburg's animal park. Back then, the festival did not have a fancy name. Now it is called Pumpkin Village. Initially when we took Mattie to these types of Fall Festivals, he did not want to go down the hay slides. But you can see by age five he conquered that fear big time!


Quote of the day: Every new friend is a new adventure… the start of more memories. Patrick Lindsay



Peter and I drove to Frederick, Maryland today. It is about 50 miles away from Washington, DC. We went there to visit with one of Peter's colleagues and his wife. I had never met either before, so it was the opportunity to make new friends. Something I really do not have the opportunity to do anymore. 

We met at this spectacular 19th century brownstone mansion, which housed a restaurant called Volt. 

This is what the interior of the restaurant looks like and we had a table right by that picture window. So on this beautiful fall day, I could watch people passing by and kids dressed in Halloween costumes. Apparently downtown Frederick was celebrating Halloween today. 


The food was amazing! In fact, it was better than most restaurants in DC! The food was beautifully presented and truly not ordinary. But paired so well and left a memorable impression on the diner. Then of course it was also matched by chatting with new friends. I think what fascinates me about making new friends is you see yourself through their eyes. These are people who really don't know us personally, they never met Mattie, and they don't know our story. Yet as we talked and shared with them our mission and work, we got their feedback. Naturally I was not looking for feedback, just simply sharing how I spend our days. What amazed me is through their lens, I was left to pause and acknowledge...... wow, look at what we are doing, in such a short period of time, on a limited budget, and living each day with great grief. Not sure why it takes strangers for me to hear this reality, but it registered today. 

1 comment:

Margy Jost said...

Vicki, What a beautiful post. I am so glad, the meeting of new friends, telling them about Mattie & Mattie Miracle left you with such a positive experience. You are doing amazing things for childhood cancer, living full on heavy grief with out Mattie, and making great strides with Mattie Miracle. Sometimes, it is very true, seeing our life, what we are doing, can leave us with such a positive feeling. I am so glad to know this was your day.

Your trips, whoever you go, even to Frederick, Maryland always make me wish, you would plan an excursion for us.