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

July 6, 2013

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Tonight's picture was taken in July of 2003. Mattie was in his book corner of our living room and he seemed to gravitate to this Sesame Street book which had flaps that opened. This may have been one of Mattie's favorite books initially. Mattie loved to look at photos of Elmo, a well known Sesame Street character. Mattie also loved Elmo's voice.  Whenever Sesame Street was on TV, Mattie would stop in his tracks to watch Elmo. Mattie would multi-task through most of the other parts of the show, but not when Elmo was on!!!




Quote of the day: Hard is trying to rebuild yourself, piece by piece, with no instruction book, and no clue as to where all the important bits are supposed to go. ~ Nick Hornby


As I indicated in last night's blog posting, I was in a state and a funk from the car accident we had. However, my funk really wasn't about the accident itself, it was just a trigger to my much larger funk. After writing last night's blog, I then sent Peter a text message. I was upstairs on the computer and he was downstairs in his parent's living room. Mattie conditioned Peter and I to text message each other (so he did not have to hear us talk!), and therefore some habits are hard to break. I wrote to Peter that I wanted to go out for ice cream. Certainly there was ice cream in the house, but it was the notion of going out and trying to re-engage with the world which was important for me. Some people turn to alcohol or other drugs, I turn to ice cream and chocolate. These are my drugs of choice. 

Later that evening, I received an email from Kristen, Mattie's oncologist and our friend. It was actually Kristen's email that turned my mood around. Kristen supported Peter and I through some of the worst times and through the hardest decisions in Mattie's care. Though Kristen is a medical doctor and HIGHLY professional, I could tell early on in our interactions that she was also human and had a compassion side to her. It was that side which I fell in love with and why in my opinion she is an outstanding oncologist. Last night she contacted me because she read the blog and wanted me to know she understood what I was trying to express and also appreciated why I needed time to disengage and not socialize with anyone. Kristen's message further verifies my feelings..... when someone else can listen, hear you, and understand you, it elicits a very powerful emotion. An emotion which makes you feel human, normal, and not out in left field. A field which I think most bereaved parents live in at times!!! Kristen did not need to write to me, she isn't our doctor anymore, she wants no funding from Mattie Miracle, and has no ulterior motives. She writes because she wants to and feels a bond with us. Which is why her message meant the world to me and I do believe as a medical professional she is walking through her own grief journey regarding the loss of Mattie.

Today we drove with Peter's parents to Concord, NH. The Capital of New Hampshire. Concord is filled with shops, antique stores, and restaurants. After shopping and lunch, we walked to my favorite place in Concord... The Granite State Candy Shoppe. This is a photo of the Granite State Candy Shoppe from 1927. Ironically the structure of the store looks quite similar to this today! This Shoppe was created by a man named Peter who came to the United States from Greece. He opened up this store and then passed down his legacy to his children and then his grandchildren. I must admit that visiting this store is almost worth the drive to Concord, NH. The fragrance of chocolate as soon as you walk into the store is intoxicating! Despite it being in the upper 90s, I did buy chocolate to take home with me and while in the store I also purchased homemade ice cream..... coffee-oreo cookie! What a flavor to remember!!!

This evening, Peter went to Logan Airport to pick up a rental car. We are driving this car home to DC tomorrow morning! We will leave Peter's car in Boston for a month in hopes that it can be reconstructed and operational again. Peter's Explorer holds many memories for us. We bought it when Mattie was two year's old and we drove it everywhere, especially on family vacations. It reminds me of Mattie, so leaving it behind in Boston, seems like we are not taking our entire family home with us. Sounds silly I am sure, since this is just a car. But it is a car with many memories and frankly when you lose your child to cancer, remembering and memories are sometimes the only things that keep you going. 

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