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

February 12, 2025

Wednesday, February 12, 2025

Wednesday, February 12, 2025

Tonight's picture was taken in February of 2009. That year, we must have purchased every Lego kit on the market. Those we did not purchase, were gifted to us. We put together small, medium, and big Lego structures! Legos were our therapy! While putting together these creations, our minds were focused on this happier task, and we took a break from cancer! I will never forget what vital diversions Legos provided us and how Mattie loved creating and building. After Mattie completed the assembly he then showed his nurses and his psychosocial team the finished products. Legos assisted Mattie and his care team in meaningful dialogue, and if they could talk about Legos, then it lead to other conversations about how he was feeling. However, there would have been NO medicine talk without first bonding over something else. Legos provided that safe outlet.  


Quote of the day: There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t. ~ John Green


Last night, I went outside to try to get a jump on shoveling the driveway. Believe it or not, whatever I had done, was covered in snow minutes later. It was like trying to hold back the ocean. Nonetheless, I am glad I got the process started. I must have been outside for two hours. It was a white out and when I looked up the total accumulation for my city, it was over 8 inches. 
This was what I saw outside my front door! A sea of white. However, when I woke up this morning, I found the roads had been plowed (which was amazing, as this isn't always the case) and my neighbor was already working on my driveway with his snow blower. He's a kind soul and he also knows I am paranoid about falling on the ice, since I do it frequently. So after he used his snowblower, he then shoveled by hand to remove all snow from the driveway and walkways. Truly a blessing!

I have to admit that I was tired from shoveling the night before, so having someone help me, it greatly appreciated. On top of caregiving, I roasted a six pound chicken. This has become my tradition, if we are stuck at home because of snow, I want dinner to be special. While prepping the bird, I received an email from my mom's car dealer. Her car is in for service. Why? NOT because it was a scheduled service (which it had in December), but because when I started the car, a nasty gram popped up on the screen telling me the car's battery was low. Don't ask me how the car could get fully checked out in December, and now the whole battery required replacement. This particular car dealership is a nightmare. They are a complete night and day experience from my Ford dealer. 

Any case, today's message was that I had until 9am on Friday to return the loaner car! Mind you I brought my mom's car in last Wednesday. It isn't my fault that they delayed servicing the car until today! I did not appreciate the tone of the email I received and rest assured, when I arrive at the dealership tomorrow, I will be speaking to a manager. I will spare you the formal complaint I filed on this dealership in December of 2024. Servicing the cars was never my job while married, but what I do know is I am not going to now get pushed around because I am a woman.  

In order to be able to drive the car tomorrow, I had to clean all the snow off the car! That literally took me two hours, as 8 inches of snow is a lot to deal with and some of it had turned to ice! Of course once the car was cleaned off, then there was snow all over the driveway, which required more shoveling! Needless to say, my plan was to do Foundation work today, and once again, I was consumed by endless chores. 

Dinner consisted of a wonderful roast, which I had to carve, sweet potatoes, fresh cranberry sauce (yes I freeze cranberries throughout the year!), and I sauteed asparagus. After dinner was finished, my mom asked my dad..... what did you eat? His response was..... cut up bananas. All I can say is my dad is lucky to have me, because given his cognitive issues, he is highly vulnerable. 

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