 They
say there may be angels among us. If that is so, then
Mattie Stepanek surely was one. The 13 year old child
poet who lost his battle with muscular dystrophy on June
23. Had a love of life that he wanted to share with the
world.
On June 23, 2004, Mattie Stepanek, the
child poet whose inspirational verse made him a best-selling
writer and a prominent voice for muscular dystrophy sufferers,
died Tuesday of a rare form of the disease. He was 13.
In his short life, the tireless
Stepanek wrote five volumes of poetry that sold
millions of copies. Three of the volumes reached
the New York Times' best-seller list. "Mattie was something special,
something very special," entertainer Jerry Lewis,
who chairs the Muscular Dystrophy Association,
said in a statement. "His example made people
want to reach for the best within themselves." His mother, Jeni, 44, has the
adult-onset form of the disease, and his three
older siblings died of it in early childhood.
Mattie
began writing poetry at age three to cope with
the death of a brother. In 2001, a small publisher
issued a slim volume of his poems, called Heartsongs.
Within weeks, the book reached the top of the Times'
best-seller list, the MDA said.
He wrote
four other books: Journey Through Heartsongs, Hope
Through Heartsongs, Celebrate Through Heartsongs
and "Loving Through Heartsongs.
His poems
brought him admirers including Oprah Winfrey and
former U.S. president Carter and made him one of
the best-selling poets in recent years.
In the
summer of 2001, Mattie nearly died from uncontrollable
bleeding in his throat and spent five months at
Children's National. When it seemed he would not
survive, the hospital got in touch with a Virginia
publisher on his behalf.
"I was
stunned. Some of it was really good," Peter Barnes
of VSP Publishers said Tuesday. "It was very perceptive
and thoughtful."
VSP Books
printed 200 copies of Heartsongs to be handed out
to friends. But after a news conference publicizing
the book, interest exploded. Heartsongs went on
to sell more than 500,000 copies.
Despite
his condition, Mattie was upbeat, saying he didn't
fear death. His work was full of life, a quest
for peace, hope and the inner voice he called a "heartsong."
"It's our
inner beauty, our message, the songs in our hearts," he
said in an interview with The Associated Press
in November 2001. "My life mission is to spread
peace to the world." ©CNEWS To
see Video clips of Mattie click
here and type Mattie Stepanek
into the search
For more information, visit Mattie's
personal website
Read some excerpts from Mattie's
poems Transcript of an interview
with Larry King
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