Tonight's picture was taken in May of 2009 at the Mattie March. To me this photo says it all. Next to Mattie is Bob Weiman, AKA "the Magic Man." Bob was the head of Mattie's lower school and devoted time practically weekly to visit Mattie in the hospital and teach him magic tricks. At the Mattie March, Mattie and Bob performed for the crowd. Specifically the "peanut butter booger trick." Or as Bob calls it "the Mattie Brown" trick! Magic brought a whole new life to Mattie. It made him feel special and accomplished. Because you do not need gross motor skills to perform magic, instead you need fine motor skills and quick wit. Both of which Mattie had! Bob was a great teacher to Mattie and truly a his kindness will never be forgotten by my family.
Quote of the day: Today's coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins.
- Number of people diagnosed with the virus: 33,053,454
- Number of people who died from the virus: 588,464
$124,084
We have amazing supporters, who enable Mattie Miracle to make the miracles possible!
There was a lot going on today! Sunny went to the groomers. I swear I tell the groomer one thing, and I get another! Sunny was basically shaved today! Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, as he is fur is very woolly and with the heat, suffers terribly. But I think Sunny weighs 10 pounds less after this haircut. I miss Sunny's original groomer! She was the best! But she became a vet tech, and no longer grooms. I haven't found a groomer I like since her.
In the midst of doing Foundation acknowledgments today, I got a call from our head researcher who works with Mattie Miracle. We have a team of 8 incredible psychosocial researchers and clinicians (from all over the US and Canada) who have been reviewing grant proposals for Mattie Miracle and the American Psychosocial Oncology Society (APOS). These reviewers are amazing people, as they offer their skills and time, without compensation. I am not sure who does that these days, but the professionals connected to Mattie Miracle are inspiring.
Today I got the final scores of the studies that were reviewed for our Mattie Miracle/APOS grants. I am proud to say that Mattie Miracle will be funding two studies at the $10,000 level and two other studies at the $5,000! In addition, we recently awarded a research grant through the Association of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Nurses. So altogether we are supporting close to $35,000 worth of innovative research this year alone, on top of the $68,000 to date. At the end of this year, I will be proud to say we have funded in total $100,000 of psychosocial research.
I promised to start posting some Walk photos! Check out all the wonderful dog photos we received this year. I am quite convinced that dogs are indeed a part of the family. They are our fur babies, which is why we are intrigued by them and take lots of photos. People did send me photos pictured with their dogs, but tonight, I am highlighting some of our FURR FRIENDS!
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