A Remembrance Video of Mattie

Thank you for keeping Mattie's memory alive!

Dear Mattie Blog Readers,

It means a great deal to me that you take the time to write and to share your thoughts, feelings, and reflections on Mattie's battle and death. Your messages are very meaningful and help support me through very challenging times. I am 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 have stopped writing on September 9, 2010. However, like my journey with grief there is so much that 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 me, and most importantly thank you for keeping Mattie's memory alive.


As Mattie would say, Ooga Booga (meaning, I LOVE YOU)! Vicki



August 30, 2019

Friday, August 30, 2019

Friday, August 30, 2019

Tonight's picture was taken on August 23, 2008. It was Mattie's first month of chemotherapy and we were learning quickly that our lives were changing drastically. I can tell we were new to the process, because Mattie was still wearing his hospital ID bracelet and also had hair. As treatment continued, Mattie refused to wear the bracelet and in time the majority of the hospital staff knew him. However, right from the beginning Mattie's child life specialist and art therapists knew he loved creating and therefore always had activities to keep his hands and mind busy. Which was desperately needed when confined to a hospital room for months on end. 


Quote of the day: Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow." Mary Anne  Radmacher


It has been a red letter day today. I woke up feeling very ill, with close to an 101 degree fever, chills, lethargic, and aches everywhere. This is my reaction to yesterday's Shingrix vaccine. Whereas Peter is absolutely fine. Which is remarkable to me since every part of me isn't happy. So I had that to contend with today and then Peter brought me our mail. Look at what we received today...............................

You can click on it to see it in more detail. But understand it is addressed to:

Peter Brown
Parent of College Bound Student

Where do you even go with this? It is a terribly insensitive mailing and I would like to know where they got our address! Someone is keeping addresses of college aged children in this Country, but clearly no one is combing through the list to make sure the information is current. 

But it speaks to a LARGER societal problem! Childhood cancer and children dying are NOT on people's radar scope. This letter confirms what I wrote about on last night's blog..... people think all children are guaranteed to grow up. It is particularly sobering to receive this letter given that we are moving into September. A month I truly don't like, as it was on September 8, 2009, that Mattie died. While most of the parents we know are focused back onto school or transitioning their child to college, we are focused on ways to acknowledge Mattie's 10th anniversary of his death. 


Any case, I decided to investigate the company who sent us the letter. The company is Right C3. Here is their mission.....Right C3 is centered on helping the next generation make wise decisions by pursuing the right career and attending the right college at the right cost.


I did write a complaint email to the company, but in all my digging around today I learned that this company is a scam. Check out the various resources below outlining the issues. One of the big issues is that parents sign their child up for college planning and assistance, but then are billed $2,000, specifically after being told the services are free. It is hard to believe such a company still exists!


Articles about Right C3 scam:

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