A Remembrance Video of Mattie

Thank you for keeping Mattie's memory alive!

Dear Mattie Blog Readers,

It means a great deal to me that you take the time to write and to share your thoughts, feelings, and reflections on Mattie's battle and death. Your messages are very meaningful and help support me through very challenging times. I am 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 have stopped writing on September 9, 2010. However, like my journey with grief there is so much that 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 me, and most importantly thank you for keeping Mattie's memory alive.


As Mattie would say, Ooga Booga (meaning, I LOVE YOU)! Vicki



August 12, 2016

Friday, August 12, 2016

Friday, August 12, 2016

 Tonight's picture was taken on August 9, 2009. You maybe asking yourself.... where was this photo taken? It was taken inside the Lego store within our local mall. Mattie's child life specialist, Linda, knew how much Mattie LOVED Legos. She also knew that Mattie was too sick to apply for a Make a Wish gift. So instead, she tried to plan a very special outing for him and a close friend. That evening, after the store closed, Mattie and his friend were invited in to work with two master Lego builders. Mattie had the opportunity to select whatever kit was in the store and build it. However, by that point in time, Mattie had built about every kit in the store, since Legos were positive diversions for Mattie within the hospital. Therefore instead of building a pre-formed kit, Mattie and the Master builders allowed Mattie's imagination to take over. Mattie decided he wanted to build a NYC taxi. So that was indeed what they did. They built it from scratch without following a plan, and that taxi sits in our living room even today. I am quite certain that Mattie wanted to build a taxi because of his several trips to NYC to visit Memorial Sloan Kettering for experimental treatment. 
Quote of the day: It's not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight - it's the size of the fight in the dog.  ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

On June 1, Peter and I participated in a 90 minute webinar hosted by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network. I have to admit that webinars are NOT my favorite thing to do. Mainly because you are engaging with a computer, you can't see who you are talking to and for the most part there isn't time to hear and address participant questions. So it is a very passive way of sharing information from my perspective, despite the fact that this is definitely a popular venue now. I spent a great deal of time on creating our slides because I wanted to try to bring the topic of medical traumatic stress alive from a parent's perspective. This is a topic we are very familiar with given that Mattie developed medical traumatic stress about four months into his cancer treatment. Though our society likes to focus SOLELY on the medicine, psychological issues do arise after a cancer diagnosis and unless managed, they greatly impact medical treatment, adherence to treatment, and the overall outcome. 

 I realize the link below takes you to a 90 minute presentation, but if you fast forward to minute 53, you will be able to hear Peter and me. I am very glad this was captured on-line and we can share our perspective with others electronically. 

Helping a Family with Traumatic Stress when a Child has Cancer......

Watch on YouTube HERE

Posted by The Brown Family (DC) at 5:22 PM

1 comment:

Margy Jost said...

Thanks Vicki for taking the time to give a link to listen. I definitely plan to do just that. I am so grateful for all the effort you & Peter put into showing people how important Psychosocial support is from day 1 - diagnosis day. Mattie Miracle will make the difference because of your dedication. I think of all the children, I knew, who would have benefitted greatly from what you are working to accomplish.
A very sincere thank you because this area is as important as the medicine!
Do you think I could see a picture of the finished taxi.

August 13, 2016 at 1:18 AM

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