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 27, 2017

Friday, January 27, 2017

Friday, January 27, 2017

Tonight's picture was taken in February of 2009. Mattie was surrounded by all of us in the middle of the hospital hallway! What was he doing?! Mattie was in the middle of a physical therapy appointment. The woman on the right is Anna, Mattie's physical therapist and the two women behind Mattie are Jessie (one of Mattie's art therapists) and Linda (Mattie's child life specialist). A therapy session with Mattie was anything but boring! It couldn't be, otherwise Mattie wouldn't have wanted to participate. To encourage Mattie to take a few steps with his walker, a conga line formed behind him. This intrigued him and motivated him to move. But movement for Mattie was laborious and with each step he became weaker and more exhausted. He may look chipper in this photo, but do not let that deceive you. Mattie couldn't walk more than a step or two and his wheelchair was always in tow. Yet despite the reality, look at the spirit! Mattie was VERY GOOD at getting people to join in the fun and antics. In fact, as we would go down the hallway, people would come out of their offices to see what the commotion was about. Some days we played ABBA music in the hallways while Mattie moved around, and Dancing Queen had a way of getting the whole floor moving. 


Quote of the day: If people knew how hard I worked to achieve my mastery, it wouldn't seem so wonderful after all. Michelangelo


I found Michelangelo's quote today and as soon as I read it, I laughed. I laughed because to me it isn't possible to gaze up at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and think..... this looks easy to do and to complete. Michelangelo finished this ceiling of the Chapel within four years. Yet no matter what we imagine, we can't possibly understand the painstaking days and nights he spent painting, under difficult circumstances. Also when you paint on your back you don't have the same perspective as if you were standing up and moving away from your subject matter to evaluate it. 

Michelangelo is on a grand scale. My example of hard work is minutiae and yet his quote resonates with me. Planning this week's Roundtable was a mini feat in a way and when an event runs smoothly it doesn't happen by chance. This is something people do not seem to understand. Our audio recording professional wrote me an email after the Roundtable was over and wanted me to know that he tapes many meetings on the Hill, and ours was by far one of his favorites. He commented to me that the event was organized, well timed, and thoughtful. Not to mention that people were truly collaborating and working toward a common mission during the sessions. He felt the eight hour day flew by! It was all high compliments and I appreciated him taking the time to share his experiences. A friend of mine who is an event planner said to me that planning a 30 person event versus a 100 person event is about the same. I absolutely agree, because once you have two people in a room the coordination and work begins. So it wouldn't have mattered if the Roundtable had triple the attendance, the effort was indeed an effort! 

I am almost done process Roundtable bills and materials and am now transitioning over the Foundation Walk activities! It is never dull and there is never down time. 

Meanwhile, Sunny and I went out for a walk earlier today. He loves watching the geese along the water. Each day Sunny is getting more bold about approaching the birds. I entitle this photo.... Sunny versus the geese. We literally walked up to the geese in the background and as we approached each goose flew into the Potomac River. 




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