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 22, 2020

Saturday, February 22, 2020

Saturday, February 22, 2020

Tonight's picture was taken on February 17, 2003. Mattie was 10 months old and learning to stand by holding onto things. That day, my parents sent Mattie this entertainment table. Like with any new thing, Mattie proceeded with caution. However, in time, he loved to push the buttons and keys and to have us sing along with his musical table. 


Quote of the day: With ordinary talent and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable. ~ Thomas Fowell Buxton


My mom sent me an article entitled, What Makes Dogs So Special? I posted the link below. However, all I have to do is look at Sunny's face, and I know the answer! Maybe because I fell in love with his face on Facebook, without ever meeting him in person! The simple one word answer is LOVE. Dogs provide their owners an incredible bond and love that is unique and special. 

The article highlighted three things that caught my attention:





  1. One of the most striking advances comes from studies regarding oxytocin, a brain chemical that cements emotional bonds between people, but which is, according to new evidence, also responsible for interspecies relationships between dogs and humans. Levels of the chemical spike when humans and their dogs gaze into each others' eyes, mirroring an effect observed between mothers and babies.
  2. In genetics, UCLA geneticist Bridgett vonHoldt made a surprising discovery in 2009: Dogs have a mutation in the gene responsible for Williams syndrome in humans—a condition characterized by intellectual limitations and exceptional gregariousness. "The essential thing about dogs, as for people with Williams syndrome, is a desire to form close connections, to have warm personal relationships—to love and be loved.
  3. In one behavioral study, researchers using a rope to pull open the front door of a dog's home and placing a bowl of food at an equal distance to its owner, found that the animals overwhelmingly went to their human first. Magnetic resonance imaging has drilled down on the neuroscience, showing that dogs' brains respond to praise as much or even more than food.

What I do know is that Sunny has added a special dimension to our home. After all, after Mattie died, our home was absolutely transformed. It became quiet, sad, and bordering on depressing. We will always be aware of who is missing in our lives, but Sunny keeps us moving. He keeps us engaged with him and the world. Case in point, we took Sunny for a walk today and I can't tell you how many children and adults stopped to talk with us and asked..... 'can we PET your dog?!' Clearly even strangers get a happy feeling when interacting with Sunny!

What makes dogs so special? Science says love:

https://phys.org/news/2020-02-dogs-special-science.html

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