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

November 4, 2013

Monday, November 4, 2013

Monday, November 4, 2013

Tonight's picture was taken in October of 2008. As you can see Mattie was recovering from his first limb salvaging surgery. His right arm was all wrapped up and therefore had to get used to using his left hand. What I love about this photo was Mattie and his Utz potato chip! Mattie went through several food cravings while battling cancer. He went through his vanilla shake phase, his dunkin donut phase, his pasta phase, and his potato chip phase. But it couldn't be just any potato chip. It had to be the Utz brand. I know Peter remembers this well, since he unfortunately had to roam around the hospital many nights looking for the right vending machine to dispense Utz potato chips. Mattie really wouldn't eat any other kind. I suppose they tasted differently. Naturally given what Mattie was dealing with, if he wanted something specifically that we had control over, we made every effort to make it happen. I view the potato chip runs as funny, however, Peter doesn't, for him even reflecting on these runs was depressing. Most likely because the pressure was on him and he knew he couldn't come back to the room without chips. Also while Peter was roaming around the hospital at night, it truly was isolating and a ghost town. Hospitals have a different rhythm at night and on the weekends.


Quote of day: Changing is not just changing the things outside of us. First of all we need the right view that transcends all notions including of being and non-being, creator and creature, mind and spirit. That kind of insight is crucial for transformation and healing. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh


Tonight's blog posting will be SHORT! I spent about ten hours today painting in Mattie's room. The room hadn't been painted for over a decade and the paint that was there had turned a depressing gray. So in memory of Mattie, we selected a sunny peach color. Peter helped me with clean up tonight, but neither one of us had the energy to rearrange furniture tonight. So the transformation is well underway. Part of our healing can not only be internal, it has to be external. It is our hope that this external transformation enables us to highlight Mattie's art work and special possessions more appropriately, and of course use the room. Since Mattie's death, we haven't lived in his room. His room has only been used for storage, which also wasn't providing either one of us with very positive or meaningful feelings.  

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