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

February 24, 2018

Saturday, February 24, 2018

Saturday, February 24, 2018

Tonight's picture was taken on March 2005. Mattie was about three years old here. That weekend we took him to Butler's Orchard in Maryland. Every spring, this farm hosts Bunnyland, which is like a spring family festival. There are all sorts of activities for children from an Easter Egg hunt to tractor rides. As you can see Mattie was intrigued by this John Deere toy tractor! Weekends with Mattie were always physically busy, as Mattie preferred activities and fresh air. 


Quote of the day: You can't get there by bus, only by hard work and risk and by not quite knowing what you're doing. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover will be yourself. Alan Alda


This is another working weekend for Peter and me. As the Foundation newsletter for February had to be generated, the Mattie Miracle website needed to be updated, and we are also working on a grant request. In the midst of doing all of this, I am working hard at solidifying all of our vendors for the Mattie Miracle Walk on May 20th. For our returning vendors, I contact them in December and alert them to save the date in May. But each year, we try to add new activities to the Walk. Coming up with ideas is not always easy and even if I come up with an idea, we may not be able to afford it or be allowed to host it on the School's campus. 

So far, I have secured two new vendors this year. One is a professional caricaturist and the other is Reptiles Alive. In order to find reputable vendors, I use an on-line site called Gigmasters. It is thanks to Gigmasters, that I found our DJ and face painter years ago. Gigmasters generates a contract and stands behind their recommendations, which is lovely! It makes it much easier to locate service providers for events! Gigmasters is also free of a charge to the user! No one told me about this company, as I found it doing my own research. 

Last night I put a request in through Gigmasters for a caricaturist. This is not an activity we have ever had at the Walk. I read all the recommended vendors and then selected the ones that interested me. This morning I received an email from Dylan and he was moved by my request and the reason we are raising money. So much so that he is waving his fee altogether. Check out his website: http://www.dylandrawsstuff.com/


Now regarding Reptiles Alive! It is a company that provides colorful exotic live animal shows presented by fun and friendly wildlife educators. I requested that they do a show at this year's Walk! I am very familiar with them since in June of 2009, Mattie's support community invited Reptiles Alive to Mattie's 7th birthday party. His last birthday with us. This photo was taken at the party and you can see Mattie did not mind getting up close and personal with this snake!

When I wrote to the Reptiles Alive folks, I told them about Mattie and the party they participated at in 2009. The company decided to provide at the Walk a free meet and greet for participants, after the animal show. Meeting the animals is the fun part, where children and parents can interact personally with the animals under the supervision of the educator. Check out their website: http://www.reptilesalive.com/

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