Tonight's picture was taken on February 17, 2009. We were in the child life playroom at the hospital and Mattie finished his creation. I absolutely LOVE his tree, and I have no idea what happened to this painting. Since it was so large, it was possible it never came home with us. But I would love to have it now on display in our house. A tell tale Mattie painting always had a SUN in it. I never had to prompt Mattie on this, he just did it instinctually. I also notice that Mattie painted sunflowers at the bottom of his tree. I have to believe that Mattie observed Team Mattie giving my sunflowers while he was in treatment and his observations were reflected in his art.
Quote of the day: Today's coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins.
- Number of people diagnosed with the virus: 78,013,016
- Number of people who died from the virus: 924,915
This week our Mattie Miracle February newsletter went out to supporters. One of the features of using Constant Contact for our newsletters, is that I can also program social media posts to go out that are linked to the newsletter. So today on Facebook and Twitter an update went out about our work. Specifically what was covered today were our Snack and Item Carts. We started these Carts back in 2011. So we have been running them for years. Our very first Cart was at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital (Washington, DC), and since that time we have expanded services to Children's Hospital at Sinai in Baltimore, MD and the National Institutes of Health's Clinical Center in Bethesda, MD.
The Carts are designed to meet the needs of families caring for children with cancer and other life threatening illnesses. No matter how many times I emphasize FAMILIES, some people push back at me and ask how I can give candy and other "junk" to kids with cancer. The answer is WE DON'T! The so called "junk" is provided to families working around the clock in a hospital to provide care for their sick child. All I know is I couldn't have made it through Mattie's treatment without chocolate. However, with that said, our Carts have much more than candy on them. We have crackers, granola bars, chips, popcorn, mac n cheese, oatmeal, and the list goes on. Not to mention drinks and toiletries of all kinds. So I do not deem any of this junk, but instead necessities as families typically do not pack and think about themselves when getting a child to the hospital.
I bring this up because today on Facebook someone posted concerns about our Carts, deeming what we provide as JUNK. If that wasn't bad enough, she then began criticizing other parents for the decisions they make about their child's nutrition while undergoing cancer treatment. HONESTLY? Does she not have anything better to do? If you are a parent whose child has cancer, the last thing you need is someone spouting off, being judgmental and telling you what's best for your child!
I met many of these types while Mattie was enduring cancer treatment. Fortunately when accosted by such judgmental types, I would consult with Mattie's doctors. Any case, I was disturbed yet again today when I read what I read on FB. It brought me right back to 2008, when I received such judgmental comments about Mattie's diet. Mattie was emaciated and cancer treatment left him with NO desire to eat at all. Therefore, if and when he requested something like a donut, HE GOT IT! Calories of any kind to me were better than not eating at all. I still stand by my opinion and feelings and as Mattie's parent I made decisions that I thought were in his best interest.
So our innocent posting today about our Snack Cart, led to two things.... insults about our cart (from someone who has never seen our carts) and judgmental comments to other parents about nutrition. But here's the kicker, it isn't just judgmental, but when spouting off about nutrition, this person claimed that her child survived cancer because of the nutrition she provided. ABSOLUTELY not true, but if she wishes to believe that nutrition helped save her child, fine. She can believe that, but don't make the rest of us feel badly if we provided our children with sweet treats to inspire eating. I have NO tolerance for this type of judgmental thinking, NOT THEN OR NOW.
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