Tonight's picture was taken in January of 2009. Mattie was home between treatments and got a visit from our resident Jack Russell terrier, JJ. Mattie grew up with JJ and I think it was JJ who inspired Mattie to want a dog of his own. You will notice that Mattie was sitting on the floor. This was where Mattie was most comfortable, given that he really was unable to walk, sitting on the floor gave him the ability to scoot around without having to take steps.
Quote of the day: What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains is immortal. ~ Albert Pine
Today we had a 30 minute call scheduled with a person who knows Mattie Miracle's work on the periphery. Our goal was to inform him about Mattie Miracle, to discuss what we have accomplished to date, and to share our vision regarding psychosocial care and the implementation of Psychosocial Standards at treatment sites around the country.
Mattie Miracle focuses on all things Psychosocial and I think it is noteworthy that we are the only national non-profit dedicated to psychosocial awareness, advocacy, research and support of childhood cancer. Of course when Mattie first died, we did not know how we personally were going to function from day to day, much less have a vision and goals for the Foundation. Yet in our first decade we have raised $700,000 to support our programs and supported 30,000 children with cancer. In addition, I made talking points for myself today which highlight all our activities and accomplishments and as such why individuals and other non-profits naturally turn to us for psychosocial inquiries and information.
Awareness
- Annual walk (we are hosting our 11th annual Walk on May 17th)
- Newsletters
- Contribute to book chapters and articles
- Present at conferences and schools
Advocacy
- House Resolution 262 in 2011 – a document which highlights the importance of education, awareness, and research of psychosocial care for children with cancer (McCaul, Van Hollen, Speier).
- Held the First ever Symposium on psychosocial care (Capitol Hill, 2012). Had over 80 attendees from 12 different states.
- Roundtable on Capitol Hill (2017).
- Added psychosocial language to STAR act (passed into law 2018).
Research
- Four-year long research project (involving over 80 healthcare providers) to develop evidence based psychosocial standards of care. Largest evidence based psychosocial standard research project in history, reviewing over 13,000 articles.
- Paid for publication and open access to these published standards in Pediatric Blood & Cancer.
- Funded $60,000 worth of implementation research in 2019.
Support
- Funded four child life professionals. Our child life specialist assist 3,500 patients a year.
- To date, we have helped 30,000 children with cancer and their families.
- Operate two free snack and item carts to support families caring for children in the hospital. Carts serve 2,500 families a year.
- Run community item drives to support our carts.
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