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 17, 2015

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Tonight's picture was taken in December of 2007. In fact I was looking for just such a photo to post last night, when we went to see Christmas lights in a garden. But instead I found it today! This photo was taken of Mattie at Brookside Gardens, during their Garden of Lights event. We really enjoyed seeing the lights together that year and I couldn't believe I did not snap of a photo of Mattie with the lights. I solved my own curiosity today by finding this photo!



Quote of the day: The smells of Christmas are the smells of childhood. 
 Richard Paul Evans


For the past month, ever since I had surgery, I have been having pain by my ribs. I thought it would go away or that it was muscular. However, the pain wasn't subsiding. In addition to that pain, I haven't been able to sleep well. So I knew it was time to visit my doctor. Naturally I called my surgeon's office, but her nurse doesn't return calls until the end of the day. I did not want to wait for her, so I went to see my internist instead. I have been in and out of her office since October! I would prefer less visits. 

Thankfully I did go because I have a condition called Costochondritis, also known as chest wall pain. It is a temporary inflammation of the costal cartilage, the structure that connects each rib to the sternum at the costosternal joint. The condition is a common cause of chest pain. Costochondritis symptoms can be similar to the chest pain associated with a heart attack, and I would have to say it is quite painful. Pain that you can't really avoid or ignore. In any case, this condition can be caused by a trauma (such as how my body was positioned during surgery) and lifting heavy things. I have been lifting hundreds of pounds of candy ALL Fall. So it is hard to know which is the chicken and which is the egg. Or perhaps it was the combination of surgery and candy lifting. 

Either case, I am thankful for medication to manage this pain until the cartilage heals, which can take weeks or longer. I have had it for close to a month now, so I am looking for relief at some point soon! 

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