Tuesday, May 12, 2020

Tuesday, May 12, 2020 -- Mattie died 554 weeks ago today.  

Tonight's picture was taken on May 10, 2009, at the Mattie March. An event Mattie's support community planned for us. Next to Mattie, is Bob Weiman. Or as we call him, the Magic Man. At the Mattie March, Bob and Mattie performed magic tricks together. Keep in mind that Bob visited Mattie often in the hospital and personally taught him magic. A skill, his own father taught him. Magic opened up new possibilities for Mattie. As it made him feel unique and special while in the hospital, because not every one could perform these tricks and though Mattie had physical disabilities, his fine motor skills were intact. The magic trick you see in this photo was called the Peanut Butter Booger trick. However, Bob renamed the trick.... 'the Mattie Brown.' Bob continues the tradition you see in this photo and for the last ten years has performed magic tricks at our events in memory of Mattie. 

Quote of the day: Today's coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins. 

• number of people diagnosed with the virus: 1,367,927
• number of people who died from the virus: 82,246

Update on the Virtual Walk:

1. 271 registered participants
2. 49 states represented
3. 30 Walk Sponsors
4. $82,728 raised so far
5. 329 individual donations
6. 17 Walk Teams

Given the circumstances, Mattie Miracle's live event was canceled and in less than a month, we converted the Walk to a virtual event. That may sound easy, but it isn't! Anytime you do something for the first time there is a learning curve, especially since it means we need to use technology. Today we did a LIVE Facebook Session. The link is below. It is only 5 minutes long, but our goal was to provide more details around what is a virtual walk and what we expect to happen on Sunday. Needless to say, we tried to convert our living room into a Mattie Miracle studio today. 

https://www.facebook.com/mattiemiracle.cancerfoundation/videos/237767710997083/