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

April 29, 2014

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Tuesday, April 29, 2014 -- Mattie died 242 weeks ago today.

Tonight's picture was taken on July 30, 2009. You maybe asking yourself, what was going on around this table?! Who were the cast of characters? Well Mattie you recognize in orange! The lady in pink is Denise, Mattie's social worker. Jocelyn was sitting next to Mattie on the stool. The man in the yellow shirt is the "Magic Man." Mattie's head of the lower school, Bob Weiman. Bob came to the hospital and to our home on many occasions to teach Mattie how to perform magic. However, Jocelyn and Maya (the cutie in the blue shirt), Mattie's buddies, enjoyed Bob's visits and participating in the magic shows. In fact, Bob recently told me when I was visiting the Kindergarten class last week that he sent Jocelyn a magic trick shortly after that 2009 visit to the clinic. Bob remembers Jocelyn well, as do many of our supporters since Jocelyn came to almost all of our Foundation walks! Though this was the "art therapy" table in the oncology clinic, the table was used that afternoon to learn magic, to perform magic, and to gather as friends. That was the beauty of what Jenny and Jessie (Mattie's art therapists) created for this space, a warm, inviting, and safe environment for all of us to gather. They had no agenda, just the motivation to help children and their families cope, process, and create.  


Quote of the day: The whole of life is just like watching a film. Only it’s as though you always get in ten minutes after the big picture has started, and no-one will tell you the plot, so you have to work it out all yourself from the clues. ~ Terry Pratchett


I learned today that Mattie's memorial quilt is done! This quilt has taken months to assemble and great thought and attention to detail went into designing it. It was crafted by Terri Tomoff. I met Terri at Georgetown University Hospital. Her son is a cancer survivor and she actually started making quilts as a creative outlet when her son was diagnosed. Throughout the years she has perfected her trade and the quilts she designs are true works of art. Terri doesn't just make and sell quilts, on the contrary she is very charitable with her quilts. She is part of quilting guild and they donate hundreds of quilts to military service members overseas and to children with cancer all around the Country. Terri is kind enough to offer her services as a raffle item each year for our Foundation, in which she will work with a lucky winner and design for them a hand made t-shirt quilt. Building memories for families! 

Going through Mattie's closets and drawers in October was no easy feat. Many of the clothing items I donated or gave to certain people who had children. But 30 of the items were so special to me, I couldn't part with them. Well actually that isn't true, maybe 50 items I couldn't part with.... 20 of them landed up in my own drawers, and the other 30 I mailed to Terri. Terri has been working away at integrating Mattie's clothes into a patchwork quilt. Keep in mind that Terri has never meet Mattie. She only created the quilt based on what I told her about him, about his likes, and what he gravitated to. Of course she could tell some things about him based on his clothes and the themes pictured on them. Any case, when I receive this 68"x 90" quilt in the mail, I will photograph it for you. But there is a special place on the wall in Mattie's room dedicated for this art piece!

I am signing off for today. I will write to you tomorrow from Columbus, Ohio!

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