Tonight's picture was taken in June of 2009. This was Mattie after his sternotomy. Which was a surgery that opened up Mattie's chest to remove the bone tumors that metastasized to his lungs. Nothing about surgery days was easy, for Mattie or for us. Keep in mind this was Mattie's third major surgery in one year's time. The waiting until Mattie got out of 10-12 hour surgeries was unbearable, however, I learned the surgery is actually the easy part for the patient. It is the recovery after a surgery that is the true heroic feat! Peter and I witnessed and lived through one medical nightmare after the other for 14 months straight. As I always say, childhood cancer is not one trauma. It is instead multiple traumas (you endure throughout the entire process) that add up and remain with you.
Quote of the day: Certified Child Life Specialists (CCLSs) provide evidence-based, developmentally and psychologically appropriate interventions including therapeutic play, preparation for procedures, and education that support and reduce fear, anxiety and pain for children, adolescents and families. They work in partnership with families, interdisciplinary healthcare teams and community professionals within the evolving healthcare system to meet the psychosocial, emotional and development needs of children and adolescents. ~ Association of Child Life Professionals
In the Fall of 2018, we started a second child life program fund at Children's Hospital at Sinai (Baltimore, MD). Mattie Miracle is proud to support Adina Levitan's position at the Hospital.
Recently Adina provided us with a quarterly report (for the months of April to June 2019). We sifted through the report and created this overview document which we will be highlighted in our upcoming July newsletter.
Adina provides all sorts of supportive services:
- Procedural interventions
- Coping interventions
- Therapeutic Activities
- Normalization
- Parental Support
- Education
- Sibling Support
In a nutshell, this past Spring quarter, Adina directly helped 110 children with cancer and their families and supported over 1,000 families with our Mattie Miracle Snack Cart. Which means in total she was able to interface and provide support to over 1,000 families in a three month time period! I am so glad we are capturing this data and I have to believe Mattie would be proud to know that his connection to Linda inspired us to create child life program funds. Funds that directly impact the lives of so many others like Mattie and me.
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