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

June 4, 2020

Thursday, June 4, 2020

Thursday, June 4, 2020

Tonight's picture was taken in June of 2003. Mattie was a year old and was shown in one of his favorite modes of transportation... on Peter's back. That day we took Mattie to Great Falls in Maryland. He was my nature lover, and it was from Mattie that I learned to appreciate being outdoors. 


Quote of the day: Today's coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins

  • number of people who were diagnosed from the virus: 1,867,620
  • number of people who died from the virus: 108,051


My dad transitioned home from the hospital last night. As I mentioned in last night's blog, he was released counter to what his family wanted. My mom maybe energetic, but she isn't strong and certainly no one trained her on how to help guide and move my dad. So asking her to take this on alone was a real mistake. I was up last night until 1:30am talking to my mom. I know all too well how scary it is to home, feeling isolated and alone, and unsure about how to provide care to a loved one. Though I couldn't do much over the phone, morale support goes a long way. 

Last night, while on the phone with my mom, my dad was hiccuping for two hours straight. He has had the hiccups for ONE WHOLE WEEK. How would you like that? That alone is debilitating. But to have NO PLAN in place to get rid of them, I am sure further set my mom off. Earlier in the evening, I did a peer-review literature search for research on persistent and intractable hiccups (hiccups for longer than two weeks). There is not a lot of empirical research out there, mainly because it is a rare condition. Nonetheless, I found three articles of substance and I literally read them and then wrote to my dad's doctor, suggesting he consider adding one of these drugs to my dad's regimen. Ironically, he took my advice and I am happy my parents have another drug in their arsenal today if this is needed. 

This morning, I called the in home health care company scheduled to work with my dad for the next 9 weeks. They were absolutely lovely and a big difference from yesterday's surly nurse. In any case, my dad's in home assessment with a nurse is scheduled for Friday. So you see the level of support my mom has had? NONE! Two and half days released from the hospital before support in the form of an assessment is provided. Needless to say, when my dad's doctor called me this morning, I was professional but firm. The healthcare field doesn't think about the psychosocial aspects of care nor the ramifications of illness on an entire family system! If they did, they would never have released my dad yesterday from the hospital. 


Our boy graduated today from physical therapy! Sunny tore his knee ligament completely and had TPLO surgery in April. He has been a trooper through pain, surgery, and rehab. But his friends at Veterinary Surgical Centers in Vienna and Leesburg did a great job with him! Sunny's PT calls him, "the professor." The professor actually LOVED going to physical therapy (the great treats helped)! Sunny graduated today and is on the way to a full recovery.
His therapist, Kristy, snapped a few photos. This maybe my favorite. Sunny's therapist reminds me of Julie Andrews. Beautiful voice, but sweet and yet clearly has it all together. She got along splendidly with Sunny. She nicknamed him "the professor." Mainly because of his expressive eyes and the fact that he seemed to be using those eyes to give her feedback on her performance. 

On Saturday, my Mattie would have graduated from high school. I am quite sure Mattie would have had a lot to say about comparing his graduation to Sunny's. 






Sunny on the under water treadmill (click on the video to check it out)............


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