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

September 6, 2016

Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Tuesday, September 6, 2016 -- Mattie died 364 weeks ago today.

Tonight's picture was taken in September of 2008. It is one of my favorite photos I took of Mattie a month into his treatment. Peter's mom sent Mattie this foam puzzle and after he put it together (since he was my puzzler), he sat on top of it. I always entitled this photo... Mattie sitting on top of the world. 


Quote of the day: One of the most valuable thing we can do to heal one another is listen to each other's stories. ~ Rebecca Falls


This morning Sunny and I went on a 2.6 mile walk in DC. He absolutely loved it. We paused in front of the Vietnam Memorial. Somehow Sunny seemed to understand that this was a special place, a place of reflection in a way. What a smart boy, as this site honors the many lives that were killed protecting our freedoms. 




On our way back home, we ran into two day care providers with a carriage full of six children. The children were all crying and unhappy. Well that is until they saw Sunny. They immediately started to smile and wanted to pet this great boy! Sunny is super patient, loving, and kind. Like a big 53 pound teddy bear. He was happy to comply for a stop. 

Sunny also went for his first vet visit with me today. Our previous vet moved, and we established a connection with a new vet and facility. Ironically the new vet used to work at the previous animal hospital we went to and she knew Patches. So we have come full circle in a way. The vet spent an hour with us, answering questions, doing testing, and examining Sunny. Sunny got a clean bill of health, factoring out that he has heart worm that must be treated shortly. Dogs have to take heart worm preventative meds once a month, throughout their life. Without these meds, they can catch heart worm, which is how Sunny contracted this to begin with. He has already been on antibiotics for a month, but then will need three shots over the course of two months to totally kill the worms. But as the worms are dying, he must be rather inactive because as the worms are being disintegrated they travel through the bloodstream and could lodge in his heart or lungs. However, I also learned that while dealing with the shots he will be given pregnisone for inflammation and tramadol for pain. 

However, Sunny is a special addition to our home. He brings life into our world and he forces me to stop working, go for walks, and to interact with people all around us. I can't tell you how many people have told us we have a beautiful dog and they think he is a SHE!!! To know Sunny is to love him. I bumped into my friend Heidi today while out doing chores and Heidi gave me three SPECIAL treats for Sunny! One being bacon flavored ice cream, specially formulated for dogs. All I know is the first treat I gave him which was a beef flavored sausage treat.... he devoured! 

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