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 30, 2017

Saturday, September 30, 2017

Saturday, September 30, 2017

Tonight's picture was taken in June of 2009. Mattie went over to a friend's house who had a parakeet. This was Mattie's first encounter with a parakeet that was someone's pet. Honestly Mattie did not know what to make out of this encounter. Part of him was intrigued but the other part of him was scared. Since Mattie did not like the claws of the bird on his head or skin! But this photo to me is priceless! You can't help but see Mattie's beautiful bald head with the contrasting green of the bird, and to me the bird looks like it wanted to whisper something in Mattie's ear. 


Quote of the day: When you show deep empathy toward others, their defensive energy goes down, and positive energy replaces it. That's when you can get more creative in solving problems. Stephen Covey



My lifetime friend, Karen, sent me an article this week about the effective use of rescue dogs in the NYC school system. The article was great and what I found intriguing is that there is a whole curriculum used with these rescue dogs that is now being implemented in 1,000 schools in 36 states across the Country. The curriculum was designed by a Yale researcher and it is called Muttigree. Interestingly enough the curriculum and program are funded by Cesar Milan. Peter and I are big Cesar Milan fans, as we have been watching his dog show called the Dog Whisperer on TV even before we got Sunny. Milan is intriguing because he specifically says he trains people and rehabilitates dogs. There is a real psychology to interacting with a dog, and dogs are very sensitive to their humans and in turn help us learn fascinating things about ourselves. But they teach us in very subtle ways. Not with words but with their actions and behaviors. 

The Muttigree program is used to specifically help teach empathy and compassion in pre-K to 12th grade students. I found these articles so interesting that I forwarded them to Mattie's school. Since every school curriculum now tries to integrate in empathy and resilience, which sounds lovely, but how do you teach this to a 5 year old or any aged kid for that matter? These are complex terms that can be better operationalized with hands on, real world examples. This is where a dog comes in, and what a wonderful way to rescue a dog from being euthanized. It is hard to imagine that 3-5 million dogs a year are killed in shelters in the USA. Makes you wonder why someone would go to a breeder to get a dog, when so many are in need of a home at our local shelters. 

This is what the Muttigree curriculum has been suggested to do:

  • Enhances students’ abilities to succeed academically
  • Improves student behavior
  • Encourages compassion and empathy
  • Promotes student interest in school
  • Positively influences school climate
  • Engages students, teachers, administrators & families
  • Increases awareness of and desirability for shelter pets
  • Positively impacts the community as a whole


Prior to getting Sunny, all of this would be a theoretical conversation with me. But having Sunny in my life, enables me to understand exactly what is being discussed in these articles. It isn't only my reaction to Sunny, but it is complete strangers on the street who react differently to me when they see Sunny. So many want to pet him, to get to know him, and thereby have a conservation with me. There is something very safe about being around one of our furry friends and I can only imagine how having a dog present in a school can change certain environmental dynamics. 

The picture above, I pulled from one of the articles below. Notice that this dog in the photo looks like Sunny.... a border collie mix, with freckles included. Rescue dogs are hand selected to match the teacher's lifestyle and classroom. So there is thought put into this process, because it doesn't sound like Muttigree dogs are necessarily trained to work in schools. But instead are assessed by their given temperament! Which I get, because I could train Sunny all I'd like, but he has a certain temperament..... gentle, patient, but also head strong! You can't teach gentle and patient! You either have it or you don't! 


Where the teacher's pet sleeps in a dog bed:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/31/nyregion/school-comfort-dog-program.html

The Muttigree Curriculum:
http://education.muttigrees.org/mutt-i-grees-curriculum-calm-confident-and-caring-kids

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