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 1, 2017

Friday, September 1, 2017

Friday, September 1, 2017

Tonight's picture was taken in January of 2009. We took Mattie for a cruise on the Hudson River, while he was in NYC to receive experimental treatment at Memorial Sloan Kettering. This photo was taken a week before US Airways Flight 1549 made an emergency landing on the Hudson River.


Quote of the day: Storms make trees take deeper roots. ~ Dolly Parton


I am very grateful that the Association of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Nurses (APHON), made Peter and me honorary members. As such, we now get their publication, Journal of Pediatric Oncology Nursing. In fact, in our Mattie Miracle mailbox today, the September/October issue was waiting for me. I decided to page through it, thinking that most of the articles wouldn't apply to me. However, much to my surprise on p.331, I found an article entitled: Pilot Study of Therapy Dog Visits for Inpatient Youth With Cancer. 

Naturally you know the article interested me given that I own Sunny, and to me he would be the perfect therapy dog. But in reality, very LITTLE data is out there about the effectiveness or safety of animal assisted activities in an in-patient setting for children with cancer. Well until this very study. 

But my interest in pet therapy within a hospital setting goes beyond my connection with Sunny. I remember so distinctly that while Mattie was dying in the hospital he wanted Patches, our calico cat, to visit him and stay on his bed. Yet hospitals being what they are, refused this request. I get it.... pets are NOT allowed inside a pediatric intensive care unit, and particularly cat fur gets everywhere and many people are allergic to the dander in this fur. I absolutely understood the logistics and why the request was denied, but at the time, I frankly did not care about policy and procedures. All I was thinking about was Mattie. It seems rather heartless to not figure out an alternative to a dying child's request, no?!

When Mattie was treated at Georgetown, there was NO pet therapy program. However, now such a program exists and despite no collected data at that institution, I am sure the dogs are making an impact on the patients, families, and staff. 

With regard to Chubak et al.'s study, they found that 17 out of 18 respondents said they liked having a dog visit and wished they could have spent more time with the animal. Benefits were particularly seen in children younger than 13. In particular, distress and levels of worry and fatigue decreased immediately following a visit from a therapy dog. These observations were consistent with patient and provider survey feedback. But don't you love this comment..... one team member said that the dog visit was the first time the child had smiled or been happy in a long time. To me that said it all!

All I know is when parents are stuck in-patient with their children, we would do practically anything to distract them from the reality being faced. Pets have a way of not only serving as a distraction but also they provide love and acceptance like no game or toy. In addition, it is hard to be around a dog without wanting to say something and talk. Which is why they make such beautiful creatures for therapy regardless of the setting. 

Abstract of the publication:
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1043454217712983

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