Saturday, October 10, 2015

Saturday, October 10, 2015

Tonight's picture was taken on October 6, 2008. Mattie was three months into his treatment, and managing fairly well before any of his surgeries. For the entire month of October, Mattie worked on designing and creating his own haunted house. A house made out of a plain cardboard packing box. The hospital understood Mattie well, and saved boxes for him, because they knew he loved to transform them. Mattie's haunted house was dressed to spook you from the inside out! As you can see, he even designed a witch with the help of Jenny, his art therapist. 





Quote of the day: The utmost form of respect is to give sincerely of your presence. ~ Mollie Marti

It seems to be cricket season. This fellow was inside our front hallway a few days ago, until we relocated him back outside. This morning, he was sitting on top of our hibiscus plant. He blended in beautifully, but Peter spotted him. Mattie would have gotten a big kick out of this, since he was into all sorts of bugs. 

Six years ago today, was Mattie's memorial service. It is hard to believe that all this time has past, and yet it seems to fresh to us. This afternoon, we drove to Mattie's tree to check on it and water it. The leaves are beginning to change on the tree and with the crispness of the air, it is very clear that we are into Fall. 














I received an article from a friend today, entitled "Ringling Bros. Center for Elephant Conservation is working toward a world with more elephants and less cancer." I honestly had no idea what elephants and childhood cancer had to do with each other. But I found out!

I learned that Ringling Bros. is not just about the circus! They are funding innovative research for childhood cancer as well as helping to meet the psychosocial needs of children who are hospitalized by bringing the circus to them! Elephants rarely get cancer and Dr. Schiffman (a childhood cancer survivor and oncologist at Huntsman Cancer Institute, UT) wanted to know why! The link below is a wonderful article on Ringling Bros., which includes the JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) publication on the scientific research, and videos that help to explain Dr. Schiffman's work in a simple and easy to understand manner. It turns out elephants have more of a protective protein (P56) than humans, and it is this protein which can either repair or kill cancer cells within the body. By studying the Ringling Bros. elephants, Dr. Schiffman is hoping to translate his findings to eventually help children with cancer. 


Ringling Bros. Center for Elephant Conservation is working toward a world with more elephants and less cancer:

https://www.ringlingelephantcenter.com/cancer-research/