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 15, 2014

Monday, December 15, 2014

Monday, December 15, 2014

Tonight's picture was taken in December of 2006. Mattie was four and a half years old. He was celebrating Christmas in Boston with Peter's family. No matter what the weather was like, Mattie enjoyed being outside. As you can see he was playing in the sand with cars, trucks, and trying to build regardless of how hard packed the sand may have been. This gave him pleasure and and we knew keeping him busy and active was key to his happiness back then.  


Quote of the day: What I like about photographs is that they capture a moment that’s gone forever, impossible to reproduce. ~ Karl Lagerfeld



In honor of last night being World Wide Candle Lighting at 7 pm, we lit a candle in Mattie's honor! After I posted about this event on the blog and Facebook, I received a photo of candles from my Mom and my friend Mary below!



My Mom's candles in honor of Mattie last night!















Mary's candle in honor of Mattie!















This afternoon, I went to one of my favorite stores, Hallmark! I should own stock in Hallmark! I watch Hallmark movies, I love their cards, and their store! I practically am addicted to everything Hallmark. It just captures my attention, maybe because it evokes feelings, the appreciation of the human spirit, friendship, and the bond between people. In any case, when I entered the store today, I was greeted by two treats.... I bumped into my friend Debbie and I saw this sign that read.... Love you to the Moon & Back! That was a saying Mattie and I used to say to one another! Since Mattie is my "Mattie Moon," the big moon represented on this sign is perfect! It seems to call out Mattie to me! As soon as I saw the sign I grabbed my phone to take a photo of it. 

It also seems quite appropriate that in the Hallmark store I got to catch up with my friend Debbie. We talked about a bunch of different things and as always when I converse with Debbie, she gets me to think, process, and talk. Which is a gift. Few people really want to listen on that level, so to me it is greatly appreciated. 

One of the greatest challenges Peter and I face after losing Mattie is trying to find a way to integrate back into the lives of our friends we once had, friends who have healthy children who are still growing and developing. They are still parents and of course we are not. When Mattie died, it set up a divide... of the haves and the have nots. The haves and the have nots sometimes do not know how to deal with each other, without both setting each other off. It can be problematic and I have tried both extremes of immersing myself fully back in with my friends to having nothing to do with them. At times neither felt good and it can be very confusing when you do not feel like you fit in anymore with anyone. I cycle in and out and fortunately there are people in my life who understand my need to do this and haven't walked away. Though it would be easy to do this since the emotions of grief are hard to understand and read. 



Later today I went to Home Depot to pick up bird seed for my troop of birds that we feed weekly. While there I noticed cut pines. Peter and I no longer decorate for the holidays, but these pines interested me. So I got them and brought them home and decorated them. The decorations on these pines come from my 85 year old friend Mary's Christmas Tree that I created for her last year. Just like with Mattie's tree, I saved Mary's decorations from last year in hopes of decorating another tree for her this year. Of course that did not happen since she died in March. Yet in a way, the spirit of Mary is with me through these pines. 







This is what Mary's Christmas Tree
looked like in December of 2013. I saved all the decorations and the bow!

No comments: