It's been 52 weeks since we received the news about Matti's diagnosis. Nicki called me right after she got the call and I sat at work in shock. Stunned. I couldn't do anything.
Nicki was up on the mountain doing pictures with Matti. As a family, we spent the weekend just letting that information settle into our minds, even while we had an appointment set up right away with a cancer specialist here in Las Vegas. We only told our parents and we couldn't talk about it with anyone else. It made it too real.
Even when I told my mom, I could barely get the words out. It had been less than 2 years since my Dad died from cancer. Our personal experiences with various cancer had not come with desirable results.
Then...52 weeks later, Matti is really doing great. She has had 2 sets of fully clear scans. She is stronger and doing so much at school.
She just got back from a trip with the school choir, Academy Singers, to Spain. What a fantastic opportunity!! I have no pictures, but she and Nicki do, and you have probably seen them on Facebook.
Just before she left for Spain, we did the Walk for Wishes...and Matti dressed up as Rapunzel to "meet and greet" kids there. She had a special, brief reunion with Chloe, who is the little girl who's wish reveal Matti helped with.
And...actually, just before that, we were in Provo for BYU Vocal Point's 25 Anniversary Concert. She (along with her brothers) got to perform in all 3 shows with the "VP Alumni Kids." She had a lead part and...of course killed it. This was my favorite picture I could find from searching #VP25.
Then even more fantastic news we received just yesterday: Matti qualified for and received a full resident tuition scholarship from the School of Music at NAU, thanks to her extremely beautiful and awesome singing voice! It's always nice to have someone (besides your parents) recognize the work, training, and, frankly, raw talent you have.
And you all saw this: (Click Here) when she was on the news this past Monday.
And...it's her birthday and I love her and this week is so much better than her birthday week last year!!!
