Mattie Miracle -- 16 Years of Service

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

May 27, 2025

Tuesday, May 27, 2025

Tuesday, May 27, 2025 -- Mattie died 796 weeks ago today.

Tonight's picture was taken in May of 2004. Mattie was two years old. This ride-on fire engine was a gift from my mother in law to Mattie. Mattie LOVED anything with wheels. All modes of transportation fascinated him! What makes me chuckle with this photo is the simple reality...... Mattie wanted one hand on his fire engine and the other one was trying to reach for me! Though this was a ride-on vehicle, for the most part that was NOT how Mattie used it. He would transport toys on this fire engine and in the summer months, he loved to wash it outside with a hose. Mattie had a way of making the ordinary seem extraordinary. 


Quote of the day: You were given this mountain to show others it can be moved. ~ Mel Robbins


Some days I can carry on, as I get focused on the chores, tasks and activities I need to accomplish for the day. Then there are other days like today, where the reality of my traumatic loss hits me. Now that the Foundation Walk is behind me, and I completed most of the admin for it, I remember what my husband and I always did together Post-Walk! We would go on a week's vacation together to the beach. It was our way of trying to regroup and acknowledge what we accomplished together. I can't quite put into words the multiple feelings that hit me each day since he left and perhaps because it is getting warmer and I know people are making summer plans and traveling, that the reality of my situation becomes even more apparent. 

This photo was taken in June of 2021 in South Carolina. A place I thought I would see many more times in my lifetime with my husband. It is very hard coming to terms with the fact that our 35 years together only means something to me. My life has stopped, just like it did the day Mattie died. Naturally Mattie has been gone 16 years now, and I still function and I am part of society, but I am NOT the person I used to be prior to Mattie getting cancer. I would say the same applies now that I am divorced. That Vicki died, she died and she isn't coming back and I say this with confidence. Mattie's death was a different type of loss. There was no doubt even as Mattie breathed his last breath that HE LOVED ME. This can't be said for my husband, and yet I know our life together, I know the special bond we shared, and I also know him BETTER than anyone else in this world. Therefore, what has happened doesn't compute to me, and I consider myself a master assessor of people and situations. 

Given how I was feeling today, I jumped from one activity to the next. One of which was using a hedge trimmer and cutting back bushes. I did it while it was raining, but it did not matter. I needed to be outside and expending energy, otherwise the negative energy would be all consuming. Needless to say, I filled up an entire large greens container with debris. To me life has ended, I look forward to nothing, and I have no interest in traveling ever again. This is my current state of affairs, and I can only hope that this feeling of despair lightens up this week. 

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