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

December 16, 2010

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Tonight's picture was taken in October of 2008. Peter and Mattie bought a new addition to their Christmas light display, a Christmas Scooby Doo! However, before the dog made it outside, it spent some time in Mattie's room. Based on the picture and how Mattie was sitting, I can tell that he completed his first limb salvaging surgery of his right arm. But the picture was taken before the second surgery, in which part of Mattie's right leg, left arm, and left wrist were replaced with prosthetics and a bone graft. The spark in Mattie's smile was still evident here, however, as the surgeries continued, along with the treatment, Mattie's spirit and body showed definite signs of sadness and pain.

Quote of the day: As a boy I thought of heaven as a glorious golden city, with nobody in it but angels, and they were all strangers to me. When my little brother died, then I thought of heaven as that great city, full of angels, with just one little fellow in it. Then my acquaintances began to die, and the number of my friends in heaven grew larger. But, it was not until one of my own little ones was taken that I began to feel a personal interest in heaven. Now so many of my friends and loved ones have gone there, that it seems I know more in heaven than on earth. Now, when my thoughts turn to heaven, it is not the gold walls I think of - but the loved ones there. It is not the place so much as the company that makes heaven seem beautiful. ~ Unknown


I selected this quote tonight because it reminds me of a conversation I was having with my friend, Alison this week. We spoke about spirituality and connecting with God after the loss of a child. I told her I imagine for parents who have lost a child, God and religion becomes a more black and white issue. Rather than shades of grey. As many of my readers know, I struggle to understand why God allows children to develop cancer, suffer through horrific treatments, and of course die. There really is no answer to such a complex set of questions, but when your life is turned upside down, and your child dies before you, you begin to question and examine everything. Mainly because NOTHING makes sense anymore, even things that you freely accepted before without question. However, I can also see the other end of the continuum. I can see that a loss of a child could potentially bring parents closer to God. I am not sure I could rationalize that before, but over lunch, we talked about the importance of there being a heaven because otherwise, what would that mean about Mattie's life? That his life ended at age 7? That he died in pain and that is it? In many ways, religion not only guides us here on earth, but it also helps us try to come to peace with the death of a loved one. It is much harder to accept death as a finality, rather than as a transition to an eternal life. I am not sure where I am with all of this, but when I read this quote tonight about heaven, it reminded me of my lunch conversation on Monday.

It snowed today in Washington, DC. For my readers in other parts of the country, you are either saying, how nice, or so what! Well in DC, a one inch dusting of snow can wreck havoc on the entire city. Panic ensues, and somehow people forget how to drive. Literally! This is one aspect about living in DC that I do not care about, which is why I dread snow in this town. Though I grew up in New York, I learned to drive in Los Angeles (where I attended high school). So I have to admit, I have NO idea how to drive in the snow. I met up with Ann today and she had the pleasure of driving with me because her car was being repaired. There were two spots in particular where I had trouble slowing the car down, since we were sliding on the snow. So while I was driving, I was getting coached on how to stop a car under these conditions. It actually could have been another episode from our ever growing adventures of Lucy and Ethel, but I must admit I find the whole snow thing unsettling.

Ann and I had lunch together and then we moved in two different directions since her children were released from school early because of the snow. Her children are on different campuses, so I dealt with one campus, and she dealt with the other. Despite my fear of snow, I managed quite well today. Driving a four wheel drive vehicle helped as well as moving slowly.   

I spent the rest of the day designing this candy cane tree you see pictured here tonight. My friend, Tina, who many of my faithful readers may recall hosted a birthday party for me in July, had been admiring the trees I made for Ann. So I decided to surprise Tina with her own tree! The shape of this tree is different from my previous ones, but there is something very magical about seeing the red and white pattern of candy canes forming a tree. It was a very good activity to do on a cold and snowy day, and I find that making these special gifts means something to me as I hope it does for its recipients. 

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