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

October 27, 2015

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Tuesday, October 27, 2015 -- Mattie died 319 weeks ago today. 

Tonight's picture was taken in October of 2003. Mattie was a year and half old. This was his second Halloween and I remember shopping with him at Target for his costume. Mattie was very sensitive to anything that was rough on his skin and he certainly did not want anything around his neck or his head. So this soft plushy pumpkin sweatsuit seemed like the perfect first Halloween costume to wear. 


Quote of the day: Great grief does not of itself put an end to itself. ~ Seneca



After four years of going to my zumba class with Jenny, we all said our good-byes today. Jenny is starting a new chapter in her life and is returning to full time work. Jenny started her zumba class in the winter of 2011, and I joined her class in September of 2011. Pictured here are Jamie, Jenny, and myself. 


Jamie and I brought Jenny gifts today. Jamie even created a little song for Jenny that we sang to her. Jenny was very surprised. The music to the song, was from 9 to 5, but with altered lyrics. The lyrics were:

Workin' 9 to 5
toiling all day in a room, a
way to earn good cash....
But not half as fun as Zumba!

Workin' 9 to 5,
dedicated to each issue,
You'll be the best one there...
But Jenny, we will miss you!


How did I come to this zumba class? Well my first zumba class was on a cruise ship with my mom. I enjoyed it and found it good exercise, so I decided I would try it when I returned home. However, given how I felt about losing Mattie, I honestly did not want to go out and venture into the world. Not with people I did not know or who did not understood what I have been surviving. When I found that Jenny was teaching a zumba class, I decided to try it. I assure you this was a big leap out of my comfort zone because in many ways I view the world as me versus everyone else. To me Jenny was a known quantity because her daughter and Mattie were in the same kindergarten class together and she knew what I had been through and continue to live with. 

I will never forget the first day back in 2011, when I came to Jenny's class. Another woman by the name of Heidi was in the class and she came up to me as soon as I entered the room and gave me a big hug. I was confused because I did not know Heidi, but she seemed to know me. I found out she had been reading Mattie's blog throughout his illness. So in essence she felt like she knew me. Heidi was one of my first friends I made after Mattie died and the connection to Heidi and Jenny, made this class emotionally doable for me. 

To most people, when they hear that my zumba class is ending, it seems like no big deal to them. But to me it is a huge deal. This class has given my life structure for four years, it forced me up and out during the week, and it also made me interact with the world around. I joke with Jenny that her class was therapeutic for me, but I am actually not kidding. It was a social experience, in a safe environment, in which I felt understood, despite being so different from those around me. 


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