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

January 7, 2016

Thursday, January 7, 2016

Thursday, January 7, 2016


Tonight's picture was taken in December of 2004. This was another photo I really loved. Both Mattie and our cat, Patches, were very intrigued by the Christmas boxes and packages that were all over our home. Patches hung out by the boxes and would rub against them, and of course Mattie would follow her around! The funny part about all of this was Mattie liked the boxes and wanted to play with them. He never gave me a hard time about not opening them to see what was inside. 




Quote of the day: Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving. ~ Albert Einstein


Today we are at sea as we are traveling from St. Thomas to the Bahamas. This photo, which we took in port, illustrates how big the Royal Princess is.... capable of holding 3,700 passengers and 1,500 crew. For the most part, the ship is spacious enough so you don't feel like a salmon swimming up stream. Yet on sea days, things become crowded like elevators. 


Each evening, we receive The Princess Patter, which is a newsletter giving us some information about a crew member, information about our next port and the upcoming day's schedule of events on the ship. Honestly if you wanted to, you could be busy from the moment you wake up until you go to sleep. There is something for every age and interest..... movies, sporting activities, spa treatments, swimming, eating of course, lectures, listening to music, dancing, crafts, shopping, tours of the ship, lounging on a deck chair and the list goes ON and ON!


In addition to the Patter, we also get daily tour and port guides. Peter snapped a photo of our tour logs! What I love about these daily materials is that they feature a quote of the day! Not unlike Mattie's blog. Some of the quotes are charming, they are all travel related, such as.....

"Ships are the nearest things to dreams that hands have ever made." ~ Robert Rose

"The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever." ~ Jacques Yves Cousteau












The ship was truly rocking today. In fact, it was rocking all night and something in our room seemed to be creaking each time the ship bobbed up or down. This morning, the sun eventually came out and created a beautiful reflection on the water.
















This is the beauty of very blue water of the Caribbean. Tomorrow is our last stop on the cruise. All of us seem worn out from touring, which always makes me laugh because Princess Cruise's motto is "come back new." Or "escape completely." I would like to meet the passenger who actually can live up to this expectation because I want to know their secret!

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