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

May 24, 2012

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Thursday, May 24, 2012


Tonight's picture was taken in June of 2008. A month before Mattie was diagnosed with cancer. He was posing for a picture between his two close kindergarten buddies, Charlotte and Campbell. The event they attended  was their end of the year kindergarten party at a local park. By that point, these three were inseparable and got along beautifully as a twosome or a threesome. I think it was rather ironic, that as our children became friends, so did the moms. Ellen is Charlotte's mom and Christine is Campbell's mom, and these two moms remain in my life as friends and Mattie Miracle supporters.


Quote of the day: As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. ~ John Fitzgerald Kennedy


I said my good-byes to my parents today, and then ran around doing chores. Most likely this was not a smart decision, since I am feeling very sick.... feverish, congestion, or in other words, flu like symptoms. Peter and I are scheduled to go to the beach tomorrow and stay at our friend Ellen's home for a week. I need to get away from work to regain strength, energy, and health. At the moment, I am feeling absolutely miserable. I would like to share six more pictures with you tonight from the Foundation's Third Annual Walk.


In this picture from left to right is: Virginia (Vicki's mom), Maya (Mattie's good friend from the Lombardi Clinic), Adina (Maya's mom), and Vicki. Mattie wasn't looking to establish friendships within the hospital. Yet there were three kids/teens he allowed into his life. One was Brandon, the second was Jocelyn, and the third was Maya. Maya was the only kid close to Mattie's age that he related to. I will never forget how they became friends. It all happened around the art table in clinic. Maya was getting an IV treatment and while she was sitting with other kids doing art around the table, she expressed how she did not like needles. Out of NO where, Mattie responded to her comment and said he could relate. From that point on, they became close buddies and if they were in the clinic at the same time, rest assured they were playing together. They painted a rainbow on a clinic ceiling tile together. That rainbow still exists in the clinic today. They also acted out many space alien plays together, several of which I caught on video.


Pictured here are Bridget and Brandon. Bridget is a Hotchkins Lymphoma Survivor, and still battling with the active disease. Brandon is a Lymphoma survivor and Mattie's big buddy. Both Bridget and Brandon fought cancer at the same time Mattie did. I had the pleasure of getting to know both families while living in the hospital and I only wish it was under better circumstances that we were united together.


Pictured from left to right are Cathy (Bridget's mom), Bridget, George (Bridget's dad), Brandon, and Toni (Brandon's mom).

Pictured from left to right are Austin (Christine's son), Vicki, Jocelyn (an osteosarcoma survivor and a good buddy to Mattie), and Brian (Jocelyn's husband). Jocelyn helped Mattie during very difficult adjustment points in his treatment. She understood what it meant to have limb salvaging surgery and the struggle to regain strength and to become rehabilitated. Mattie related to Jocelyn's honesty and perspective, and he appreciated that he wasn't alone in his battle with the disease.

This is a picture of Tricia's family. Tricia was one of Mattie's favorite HEM/ONC nurses and she and her family support us in extraordinary ways. They follow us through the blog, Facebook, and have attended every single Walk. From left to right is Vicki, Nicole, Peter, Tricia, Kyle, and Kellie.

This picture was actually one of the very last pictures I took at the Walk. This is a picture of Karen and me. As my faithful readers know, Karen and I have been friends since I was 11 years old. Karen worked the entire day and night right along side us and we needed all the extra physical and emotional support we could get.

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