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 6, 2019

Tuesday, February 5, 2019

Tuesday, February 5, 2019 -- Mattie died 490 weeks ago today.

Tonight's picture was taken in February of 2009. This was classic Mattie! I never saw other physical therapy sessions in the hospital looking quite like this! Mattie's physical therapist, Anna, truly rose to the occasion. She understood that getting Mattie to participate in therapy, meant that therapy had to be creative and engaging. Anna never disappointed. In order to get Mattie to move his body and use his legs, Anna would set up obstacle courses in the middle of the hospital hallways, and of course this intrigued Mattie and motivated him to participate. 


Quote of the day: I love those who can smile in trouble. ~ Leonardo da Vinci



My day started early, with a flight to Los Angeles at 7am. Perhaps I was tired or I don't know what, but the flight actually went quickly for some reason. In addition to that, there was a lot of turbulence. I literally landed in what seemed like a big cloud. Ironically it was warmer in Washington, DC today than it was in LA!

On my car trip from the airport, I got to know my driver. Literally he chatted with me for an entire hour. I got to know about him and to hear about some of his challenging car rides and the people he has had to deal with. When the ride was over, he literally said he felt better after talking to me. Then joked..... 'you should be a psychiatrist.' He made me laugh, and I said well in essence I am a therapist. 


Peter sent me this photo tonight! Apparently someone misses me!!




















I have had a full day today, as my parents are now living in a hotel indefinitely. Their home flooded from the massive amounts of rain LA has been receiving. Literally the walls and floors in two rooms were affected. I got to go to the house today to talk with the contractor. Needless to say, this is a serious and extensive issue, that in my assessment will take over a month to clean up and renovate the space. Naturally the concern is mold and if the space isn't dried out soon, the threat of mold becomes more likely. Being here a week, I hope to watch the progress. 

This evening, I received a lovely email from Bob Weiman, the associate head of Mattie's school. When Mattie was managing cancer, Bob came to the hospital very frequently to teach Mattie how to perform magic. Mattie absolutely loved his visits from the "Magic Man." Magic was very good for Mattie. Mattie felt good about himself because he was learning skills and techniques that were unique and helped him build rapport with his medical support staff. Mattie looked forward to Bob's visits and in those brief moments, you could see Mattie was happy and thriving despite all he was facing. 

I know how special these moments were for Mattie and for us, but it was lovely to see Mattie incorporated into Bob's blog posting. Which leads me to conclude that the relationship was mutual, Mattie and Bob learned something from each other. I welcome you to read this wonderful article for yourself. 

5 Reasons Your Child Should Learn Magic:

http://blog.sssas.org/5-reasons-your-child-should-learn-magic

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