Friday, November 9, 2018

Friday, November 9, 2018

Tonight's picture was taken in November of 2008. I honestly do not know how Mattie could even smile given all he was contended with.... after all he was recovering from two major limb salvaging surgeries. He had three out of his four limbs operated on and from that moment on, Mattie became physically disabled in addition to having to cope with cancer. Despite living with intense pain Mattie still found the energy to play and to be engaging. To me he had a beautiful and irreplaceable smile. 

Quote of the day: Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. ~ Maya Angelou

Mattie Miracle's first Bourbon & Bites Bash was held on Thursday night at our friend Debbie's home in Alexandria, VA. Debbie's son, Tim was in the same kindergarten classroom as Mattie. So we have known each other since 2007 and we are grateful that the whole Keefe family supports the Foundation in Mattie's memory. 

Pictured left to right: Dr. Lori Wiener, Peter, and Debbie

We are also grateful to our board member, Brett Thompson, who is the co-founder of the Jos A. Magnus Distillery in Washington, DC. It was Brett's idea to hold such a fundraiser, and he donated all the liquor (bourbon, gin, and vodka). 

In fact, I would say that many of the bold moves we took as a Foundation on the National level, started with Brett's encouragement of me. He always felt we could....... hold the first ever childhood cancer psychosocial symposium on Capitol Hill, we could craft and get psychosocial legislation passed, and that we could change the message about comprehensive cancer care. As Brett says, we are like the little engine that could. Brett is now a brain cancer survivor as well and delivered a passionate greeting last night. In which he mentioned that his own cancer journey enabled him to truly see the importance of Mattie Miracle's mission. 

The Bash was a $24,000 success!!! Around 85 people were in attendance and we were honored to welcome so many new supporters to our Foundation family.

Thank you to our incredible host committee for making the Mattie Miracles possible:

Christine and James Cooper
Peggy Elkind
Dawnee Giamittorio 
Ann and Bob Henshaw
Debbie and Peter Keefe
Carolyn McFadden
Alison McSlarrow
Jane Pisano
Brett and Susan Thompson

We started the evening by greeting everyone at the front door. Given that there were 85 people in attendance we moved to name tags. 

We had the wonderful jazz sounds of Tim Whalen, a sought after pianist in DC. He was SO kind to give us a significantly reduced rate for performing two hours. 

Our photographer, Herman, captured me on the staircase before giving a greeting. It took me two weeks to craft the emotional message that I delivered. I felt it was important for attendees to know why we do what we do and how we learned first hand that psychosocial support is necessary for the entire family. 

This to me is classic. Lori and I. We have worked together since 2012, and she has become a good friend. It was crucial to have Lori at the event last night, as she really helped to give merit and validity to our work on the national level. 

Though there were 85 people in attendance the flow of people worked very well in Debbie's home. The lady in yellow is Ellen. She is Charlotte's mom. Mattie considered Charlotte his girlfriend, or the girl he was going to marry. Yes he made that pronouncement at age 5. 

This was some of the people looking up at me while I was speaking. The only reason we spoke from the staircase, was that it made us visible to everyone in the house. 

The library featured the tastings! It was a popular room that night and the distiller (Nicole) and the event coordinator (Thy) were absolutely lovely women. 

Mingling over tastings!

The beauty of the buffet table! Debbie and I picked out the linen and I really wanted a gold color table cloth for the fall, but also because gold is the awareness color for childhood cancer. 

Relish Catering did a phenomenal job. They were a pleasure to work with and their food was creative, tasty, very farm to table, and memorable. Not your ordinary cocktail food. 

A popular room after presentations were made. 

Me with my friend Denise. Denise and I have known each other a long time. Her whole family are Mattie Miracle supporters. Denise and I met in grad school, and her daughter Marisa got to know Mattie when she was in high school. For the past 9 years, Marisa has run the bake sale at our Mattie Miracle Walks every May. 

The parting gift for our guests.... a little bottle of bourbon!