Thank you so much for your continued support and love for Mattie. We are overwhelmed by your kindness, generosity, and love.

Please accept our apologies for our delay in updates. Mattie is facing some significant health challenges. In mid December, he got the respiratory crud that is going around as well as a stomach virus. Those two viruses together caused him to have a serious medical emergency. Thankfully, he is on the way to recovery. However, he is still dealing with some complications from those viruses. Next week, he will be going into the hospital so the doctors can help improve things for him. While he does not enjoy being in the hospital, we are hopeful that this hospital admission will be beneficial for him.

That said, there have been some wonderful things happening as well. Mattie has been able to get out in the community and enjoy life. He went to his big sister's choir concert. For the first time in 4 years, he got to go Christmas shopping for his family. He has been able to go out and about in the community. And he is able to do it in a way that he is safe, comfortable, and able to access things he was unable to do independently before. Even getting to doctor appointments and the hospital is much improved than it was before.

I am sharing all of this to say that this love and encouragement that you have given us has inspired us to keep fighting for Mattie. We are looking at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and are in the process of sending records there to see if they can help him from a respiratory and tumor standpoint. There is also a specialist in mitochondrial disease, and we are eager to get some help from their team as well to see if they have any insight. One thing that enables us to do this is this van and the love and support from you. Through your love, support, and prayers, you have enabled us to not give up and keep fighting.  

We cannot thank every single one of you enough for your support with this. You have truly blessed our family. Furthermore, you are encouraging us to never ever give up and knock on every single door. 

We will try to update here once Mattie is home from the hospital and we hear from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. We are going to keep posting updates here and organize support here for Mattie. Support Now offers other ways for help and support, and we will utilize them as Mattie's needs develop. 

Again, thank you all for everything.