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

December 17, 2019

Tuesday, December 17, 2019

Tuesday, December 17, 2019 -- Mattie died 533 weeks ago today. 

Tonight's picture was taken in December of 2003. We took Mattie out to Los Angeles to celebrate Christmas with my parents. In their backyard were all sorts of citrus trees. Mattie loved to pick fruit and then sort them by type. It was nature's building blocks and Mattie was intrigued. 


Quote of the day: Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you would have rather talked. ~ Mark Twain


Peter is back in Washington, DC, however, he was on the phone several times today with his parents and with his mom's doctors. It turns out in addition to everything else going on, Peter's mom is dealing with Deep Vein Thrombosis. Which is what is depicted in this photo. Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) occurs when a blood clot (thrombus) forms in one or more of the deep veins in your body, usually in the legs. Deep vein thrombosis can be very serious because blood clots in  veins can break loose, travel through the bloodstream and lodge in the lungs, blocking blood flow. So needless to say, his mom will return back to the hospital for a procedure to insert a filter. The filter is inserted into a large vein (vena cava) in the abdomen. A vena cava filter prevents clots that break loose from lodging in the lungs. After placement, she will return back to acute rehab. 

After Peter heard all of this today, he told the doctor that he did not want his mother discharged on December 23 (like planned). Given it is a holiday week, Peter worries that his mom will be returning home too soon and if anything happens, she won't be in the hospital and won't have access to timely in-home care given it is Christmas week. The doctor agreed with Peter. Peter has been working around the clock to make sure his mom gets the best care possible, with the ultimate goal of returning home. 

On Thursday, we are headed to Florida on a cruise with my parents. Thankfully with the help of technology, Peter will have access to his cell phone throughout the trip. Nonetheless, his goal is to get this filter inserted this week, so his mom can truly begin focusing on rehab.  

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