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

March 6, 2018

Tuesday, March 6, 2018

Tuesday, March 6, 2018 -- Mattie died 442 weeks ago today.

Tonight's picture was taken in March 9, 2003. Mattie was almost a year old. This was the day before my doctoral dissertation defense. I can still recall how stressed out I was, but one thing was the motivator...... I wanted to graduate before Mattie got any older. I did not want to live with the stress of pursuing a higher degree and being a mom. 



Quote of the day: Looking back at my life's voyage, I can only say that it has been a golden trip. ~ Ginger Rogers


I had the opportunity today to go back to the George Washington University and sit on a doctoral student's dissertation defense. Why is this significant? Because 15 years ago today, I defended my dissertation. Pictured here was my doctoral committee................

Front Row: Dr. Pat Schwallie-Giddis, me, and Dr. Carol Hoare
Back Row: Dr. Rich Lanthier, Dr. Don Linkowski, Dr. Rolf Peterson, and Dr. Rob Gallagher

After defending my dissertation, which is like a major oral exam in which you sit around a table and everyone on the committee as they raise questions about your study. Of course you need to be prepared to effectively provide answers. After the defense, you go out to lunch with your committee. Which maybe just as nerve racking as the exam! 

This was Peter and me with Dr. Rob Gallagher. Rob was my outside the university examiner. However, Rob was key to my study, as it took me three years to find him. He worked for a large governmental agency that offered eldercare support services to its employees. Rob provided exactly what I needed, which was access to employed individuals who were caregivers of an older adult family member. It wasn't easy to find any agency who was willing to work with me and give me access to their employees. But I think Rob saw the benefits of working with me. He viewed me as a person who could give him important data about the effectiveness of his agency's work life services. Any case, we were a good match together and I credit Rob for enabling me to truly finish my dissertation. Because without data, I was in limbo!!!

After my defense was over, Rob told the committee that he wanted to offer me a Grade 13/14 job in the government to run his agency's work life program. A major job offer, which I was flattered to receive, because clearly my month of data collecting enabled Rob to see my ability to fit in his agency! 

Fast forward to today, sitting at a dissertation defense, I was left looking back at my academic journey! Would I have guessed back then how my life would have turned out? That I would have a child die from cancer and in the process learn first hand the psychological issues associated with this disease and the impact on the family!? Of course the answer would be NO! You have big plans and goals once you graduate, but as I have learned plans change! So I couldn't help but view this student from this lens today. I also found it was very clear that she was naive about the topic of aging (her topic). As TRULY not grasping its complexity. But that is the beauty of being in her 20's. Yet I do think despite being young when I wrote my dissertation, I had a solid understanding for the aging population and the system of caregivers who provide support. I credit this to watching my maternal grandmother suffer from the effects of a massive stroke, and experiencing my mom's significant level of caregiving for her own mom. 

Do I have regrets that I did not take that government job? Absolutely NOT! If I had, I would have been working around the clock and wouldn't have been instrumentally involved in Mattie's development. Which would have been truly horrific, since I only had him in my life for seven years. I would like to think that I made him my priority for 7 years, and with that I have no guilt. However, I would have had intense life long guilt, if I had made the decision to work full time, and not have had quality time with Mattie. In Mattie's short life, quality time meant EVERY HOUR I had with him! I find it interesting how attending someone else's doctoral defense today could send me right back in time!

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