Tonight's picture was drawn by Mattie in October of 2007. Mattie used to leave all sorts of creations for us on his dry erase board. I get a kick out of this picture because apparently NONE of us had hands and arms, only legs. The irony was despite this condition we all had smiles on our faces. Check out Patches, our cat. Patches was drawn in pink and her body looked like a star!!! Back then I tried to introduce Mattie to a word a day. The word of the day was PUMPKIN. An object Mattie very much appreciated.
Quote of the day: It's not enough to have lived. We should be determined to live for something. May I suggest that it be creating joy for others, sharing what we have for the betterment of personkind, bringing hope to the lost and love to the lonely. ~ Leo Buscaglia
"Bringing hope to the lost and love to the lonely," what a wonderfully stated notion for our purpose in life. Yet so often we do not live by this philosophy. In just two months time, Washington, DC has experienced mass hysteria. Between the Navy Yard shootings and now today gun fire at the US Capitol killing the suspect. If these facts are not horrible enough, the suspect in today's shooting had a baby in the backseat of the car she was driving. One has to ask what was going on with this woman to want to put a child in harms way and to also value her own life so little?
Clearly at the heart of the matter these individuals suffer from a mental health issue. Once we hear that, I am not sure how we are supposed to react. Are we supposed to feel better or maybe say..... well that figures, or that explains the behavior?!!! Labeling something is only one fourth of the problem. Without addressing it, the problem only grows. It grows so much that we have people killing others and themselves. To me this is a sad commentary about our society, because what this says is so many people with mental illness have lost hope, have no direction, and are lonely.
As I look into the world I currently operate in, the cancer world, I am privy to many, many stories from families who are battling childhood cancer. Any one who has walked the cancer journey knows that mental health issues pop up all the time. How could they not when dealing with life and death issues, living in a hospital, and experiencing toxic treatments. There is no choice, it is a chance at living and putting up with the treatment or death. So most of us opt for the treatment. Yet what always amazes me is the lack of truly helpful psychosocial support for patients and their families. In fact in many cases the mental health support in place can at times be judgmental and make the patient feel inadequate and actually further set off a negative chain reaction of depression and helplessness. I once believed that any mental health professional could help any particular person, as long as the professional was empathetic, a good listener, was insightful, had good skills and access to resources. I am not sure I share that same philosophy now. I do think that having the personal insight into the world of battling cancer gives me a perspective that those who work in the field sometimes lack.
Tomorrow the Foundation heads back to the Hospital for our yearly check presentation ceremony. In tow with me will be 30 Mattie cupcakes. Mattie lived on cupcakes when he was in the hospital, and we used them as incentives for him to meet physical therapy goals. Needless to say, it has been a Mattie Miracle tradition now three years in row to bring cupcakes to the check event. I love to leave cupcakes with both the PICU and HEM/ONC units of the hospital. Mattie experienced both PICU and HEM/ONC nurses and without either set, we couldn't have made it on a daily basis. So needless to say, it has been a VERY busy Mattie Miracle event week!!!
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