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

June 11, 2016

Saturday, June 11, 2016

Saturday, June 11, 2016

Tonight's picture was taken in June of 2006..... Mattie was walking along the Roosevelt Island boardwalk. A place we would visit often on the weekends! It is hard to believe that so much greenery and wildlife exists just minutes from our home. It was a place Mattie loved exploring and he never came home empty handed.... rocks, leaves, and branches were Mattie's typical finds. 

Quote of the day: Loneliness leads to nothing good, only detachment. And sometimes the people who most need to reach out are the people least capable of it. Jane Espenson

Today we attended a high school graduation ceremony and party. However, unlike the previous graduation I attended on Tuesday, this one was held at Mattie's school. It is a very surreal experience to witness the process of graduation at your son's school and yet we know that in 2020, when the rest of Mattie's class will graduate.... he will not! Why did we go to today's graduation? To support our friend whose daughter was graduating. Ironically we know many families, teachers, and administrators at the school, and keep in mind that Mattie only attended kindergarten there! He did not have the opportunity to be a part of that school community for years. 

Tonight's quote is somewhat apropos because loneliness does lead to detachment, especially when you deem yourself as different from other people who happen to be parents. It is a constant struggle to figure out how much I want to be a part of this world, share in other people's joys and happiness, without doing myself in? I want to be supportive of others and share in their lives and usually put that desire over my own needs. Mainly because my own needs are not really understood and I am always cognizant of the fact that the world doesn't revolve around my own needs.

However, I do think that given my life experiences, it clouds my impression and perception of things. For example, people may appreciate certain aspects of a graduation ceremony that mean NOTHING TO ME! I find I need to hear words and sentiments that reflect real world challenges and obstacles, values that pertain to helping others and being a responsible citizen. Otherwise such occasions seem to be unmemorable and lack meaning and depth. 

After today's festivities, we came home and we literally needed to clear our heads and go for a walk. Despite the heat and humidity!

While out, we saw Mattie Moon.
When you lose a child to cancer, it can be hard to know how to react at graduations and milestone moments for our friends.  Clearly we want to be happy for friends, yet it is hard not to feel personal pain at the same time.





We do not have the gift of Mattie with us, but instead we turn to nature to find him..... we see him when we look at the moon, walk along the water and pass boats (a Mattie favorite), or anytime we see a turtle or duck.







This turtle was out basking in the sunshine, but we felt he had one eye tuned to us. 

1 comment:

Margy Jost said...

Vicki,

I appreciate the sentiment of the quote you posted for June 11. Loneliness that results from those forever losses in life, i.e. , death of your child, death of a parent who is young,raising young children, even death of a spouse, newly married who finds in an instant life has changed forever, dead suddenly from effects of Cancer treatment, 10 years ago. . All these losses lead to a profound loneliness, that can detached us from life because people don't understand, the loss. Life goes on all around everybody but for the parents, the children, and the spouse, life as they knew it stopped and changed dramatically. Life and dreams of the future are rearranged into something new. This change did not happen by choice.
I hope many people read your blog. Family and even close friends need to know what a profound effort people who have lost a loved one, way too soon, experience as they work hard to stay a part of this world. Your loss of Mattie is with you every second. I imagine parents whose child has died have to muster lots of strength to watch their friends kids reach milestones, your child won't! I believe it to be an amazing show of friendship, that you celebrated many milestones with friends this weekend. Mattie is proud!!!!