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

December 20, 2014

Friday, December 19, 2014

Friday, December 19, 2014

Tonight's picture was taken in December of 2007. We took Mattie down to the National Mall to see the Christmas Tree right outside the White House, along with all the trees from the 50 states. It was a cold night and despite living in DC for years, that was our first time venturing to see the trees up close! Mattie inspired us and around the main tree was a fantastic train set! It was operational and memorizing. Even in the cold!!! In addition to the trees, there was a yule log burning, which was another first for me! I have never seen one of those..... only heard about them! So in between feeling frozen we got to stand by the fire which was quite special. A magical night. 



Quote of the day: Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see. Mark Twain



This morning I looked out my kitchen window and I saw this sight through my screen...... three mourning doves! NO this was not some line from a Christmas song!!! I have absolutely NO IDEA what they were doing just sitting on our table. After all our feeders are in our commons space, which is outside our deck door. So there is no bird seed on our deck any more this year. So what on earth they were doing just sitting there was beyond me. 

Whenever I see three of any creature, my mind naturally leaps to Mattie, Peter, and me! When Mattie was battling cancer, we had a mama mourning dove who claimed her territory in one of our planters on our deck. She laid her eggs in it, and she sat on those eggs for what seemed like forever. It was the only time we have ever seen such an occurrence in all the years we have lived here. But now when I saw these doves today, I instantly remembered that moment in time. I was transported back to when Mattie was ill, when we watched this mother dove roosting on her eggs. 

This evening I was invited to one of my friend's neighborhood holiday parties. Typically I do not go to parties, but since my friend asked me to go, I went. The ironic part about all of this is, I don't live in my friend's neighborhood, but I know a fair share of people who live there. I reconnected with a woman tonight who I had met at my friend's house years ago. She has her own cancer story, which is how we got connected. In any case, tonight we picked up right where we left off. Isn't that funny how that can happen with a person. She receives our Foundation newsletters and keeps up to speed on our happenings. However, she shared with me that our story inspired her so much that she started making fleece shawls/blankets and donates them to Georgetown University Hospital Child Life's program. Not just one or two, try 77 shawls!!!! Shawls which are given to pediatric patients and family members. I was absolutely shocked and told her that she and I have to sit down and discuss this in depth because this is a story that has to be told!!! To me, it was fate that I go to the party tonight and the ironic part is if you could hear some of the things we were talking about, it most likely would have depressed the average listener. Yet for me, I actually found it empowering. It is always a good feeling when you find someone else who truly gets it and understands. 

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