Mattie Miracle 15th Anniversary Video

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 28, 2021

Tuesday, December 28, 2021

Tuesday, December 28, 2021 -- Mattie died 639 weeks ago today. 

Tonight's picture was taken in December of 2004. It was featured on the cover of our family holiday card. Mattie was two and half years old and by that point could understand the request to sit still to capture a photo. It was a holiday tradition that Mattie would get dressed up in a Christmas sweater and we would take photos of him. I haven't decorated since 2007, but when I look at our current Christmas tree and compare it to the one in this photo, I see all the same ornaments. It is amazing how I have preserved them over all these years in boxes. 


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

  • Number of people diagnosed with the virus: 53,093,904
  • Number of people who died from the virus: 820,419


I can't say I accomplished much today, as I am still feeling under the weather. I feel like I am drowning in sinus fluid! I got my dad washed, dressed, and did all his exercises. I even walked Sunny. But after that I felt like I ran a marathon and have been taking it low key. That will be my new mantra until I am feeling more energetic and like myself. Typically I am like the energizer bunny, so when I am not feeling well, my lack of activity is noticeable by everyone. 

What feels like overnight, I have become a full-time family caregiver. It isn't a role that is actually new to me, but I haven't served this role for years. Yet I know that caregiving for someone with dementia is associated with higher levels of distress and depression than caring for someone who doesn’t have dementia. 

When I wonder why I feel so depleted, I have to give myself a reality check. I moved myself in August (from Washington DC, where we lived for 27 years to Oakton, VA), then dealt with home renovations, packed my parents up in December and moved them in with us. No breaks in between and during all of this, I am caregiving for my dad. 

Research indicates that assuming a caregiving role can be stressful and burdensome. Caregiving has all the features of a chronic stress experience: It creates physical and psychological strain over extended periods of time, is accompanied by high levels of unpredictability and uncontrollability, has the capacity to create secondary stress in multiple life domains such as work and family relationships, and frequently requires high levels of vigilance. Caregiving fits the formula for chronic stress so well that it is used as a model for studying the health effects of chronic stress.

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