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Saying Goodbye To A Special Ambassador: Remembering Mattie J.T. Stepanek, aged 13 (By Johnny, aged 11) :( by Karen Lynn Vidra, The Texas Tornado
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
Rated "G" by the Author.
Johnny has just found out that young poet, Matthew (Mattie) Stepanek, has died. He was only a young teenager who has had to struggle his entire life with a very rare form of muscular dystrophy. He was only 13 years old.
I am so upset I can't seem to think (or see) straight. I just was informed by my mother that young best selling poet/author/Goodwill Ambassador to the Muscular Dystrophy Association, Matthew Stepanek, has died. He was but all of 13 years old; he was just a young teenager.
This scares me because I happen to have muscular dystrophy myself (not the kind he had, but still, muscular dystrophy just the same), and I am dying myself: I am not expected to live beyond the age of 13 myself; and that is only a few short years from now. (I am going to be 12 come the day after Christmas, in December.)
I have read some of Mattie's books, "Journey Through Heartstrings", "Celebrate Through Heartstrings", and "Hope Through Heartstrings", and even though he was young and was severely physically disabled (he had to breathe with the aid of a ventilator, and he was in an electric wheelchair and he required a lot of specialized care), he still had a brilliant mind and an uncanny ability to compose moving and inspiring poetry that touched the lives of many people. He raised awareness of muscular dystrophy thanks to his work with the Muscular Dystrophy Association, and he had met many famous people, who were just as touched by him as were ordinary, everyday people. He was a couragous young boy, and he always seemed to have such a positive and happy attitude.
I had to write my feelings down when I heard the news; and I am so sorry that he is gone, but he is now with Jesus, in Heaven (he was a Christian), and he is now free of the ventilator, the wheelchair, and best of all, his muscular dystrophy. He is with his family that went before him, and he is now happy. I am happy for him, too, but in the meantime, the world has lost an unforgettable young person who should have lived a lot longer than he did; and the world has lost a young person who was the very epitome of "courage over overseemingly impossible adversity" and lived life to its very fullest, even when he was sick.
God bless you, Mattie Stepanek. You will be missed by many, and you will never be forgotten!
~Love, your admirer, Johnny (fellow sufferer with muscular dystrophy), aged 11.
Karen
^tears^ this is heartbreaking, I had no idea Mattie died until I read this...
God Bless
In Christs Love
Michelle~
Reviewed by P. Michaels
6/22/2004
Karen, your sister said it all. You are really blessed to have a sister who encourages you in your writing endeavors. I've also noticed that the more you write, the better your writing becomes. Keep on writing.
for such short notice, you've penned a heartmoving tribute to a fine young man--let his writing inspire you to keep reaching higher. if a boy in a wheelchair and on a ventilator can be a bestselling author, so can you! (and you will be, i have faith in you)
For a time, I perched myself on a flat rock, comparing my life with the Guyandotte River. Just as its tributaries replenish it daily, changing it in some small—sometimes great—degree, so have the day-to-day occurrences of life changed me. Like the ri
I am so upset I can't seem to think (or see) straight. I just was informed by my mother that young best selling poet/author/Goodwill Ambassador to the Muscular Dystrophy Association, Matthew Stepanek, has died. He was but all of 13 years old; he was just a young teenager.
