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

July 11, 2020

Saturday, July 11, 2020

Saturday, July 11, 2020

Tonight's picture was taken in July of 2007. We typically took Mattie up to Boston to visit Peter's parents in July. That day, Mattie went out to the front yard and was swinging on the tree swing. I love his big smile! Prior to doing two years of occupational therapy, Mattie HATED swings. However, over time and with the help of his therapist, Kathie, Mattie overcame many of the issues he initially presented with. In fact, by the time Mattie entered kindergarten in the Fall of 2007, his teachers had NO IDEA that he had experienced issues with sensory perception and speech! It speaks to the power of early intervention. 



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

  • number of people diagnosed with the virus: 3,239,296
  • number of people who died from the virus: 134,712


Yesterday we went to Home Depot and bought a bunch of plants for our deck. Typically our garden is planted in April. But too much has happened this spring for that to happen. Planting in the summer is not ideal, but seeing greenery helps our mood and it is something that we both enjoy. 

This morning, I snapped this photo of the garden from Mattie's window. Nothing was planted yet. It is hard to see from the photo, but the deck was a mess. There were leaves everywhere from the Fall and Winter, and many of our perennials had dead leaves and flowers on them that needed to be cleaned up. It took me about 90 minutes just to clean and then later in the day we began planting. It is my hope we can finish it tomorrow, and I will then post some pictures. 

Since we wanted to visit a garden nursery today to purchase a lemon tree (my requested birthday gift), we decided to walk Sunny on the Accotink Trail. It was the perfect place to walk, because it was shaded with trees and much cooler than walking in the blazing sun. Sunny loved it and we met many people along the way who admired Sunny. 
Beauty along the trail! 
Then we went to the Merrifield Garden Center. I haven't been to this Center in over a decade. We used to shop there for our Christmas tree. Since we haven't bought a Christmas tree since 2007, you can do the math on how long it has been. 

Sunny walked with us as we picked out the tree and some other things, but it was too hot for him outside. So I took him inside the air conditioned center and he sat on the AstroTurf display and had water. 

I have spoken to both of my parents today! This entire week, I have been on the phone 6 or more times a day with them. Thankfully before I left, I met each of my dad's caregivers. They are wonderful women, and cover different days of the week. My dad only has support from them four hours a day, and the rest of the twenty hours, my mom is managing. Which is why it was a hard transition for her when Peter and I left. As I tell my mom, we take it one day at a time. 

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