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CNN Live Sunday

Eleven-Year Old Boy Inspires With Poetry and Optimism

Aired July 22, 2001 - 16:17   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: Time is running out for an 11-year-old victim, but he is making the most of his life thanks in part to a caring staff at the Children's Medical Center in Washington. CNN's Kathleen Koch has the inspiring story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTIE STEPANEK, WRITER: A champion is a winner. A hero. Someone who never gives up. Even when the going gets rough.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Matthew Stepanek, friends call him Mattie, is a writer, inspired by life.

STEPANEK: Happy, sad, funny, when I'm any of those feelings, I sit down and write about it.

KOCH: Sad and angry is how most people would feel if, like Mattie, they were diagnosed with a rare form of muscular dystrophy, that already killed a sister and two brothers.

Instead, Mattie brightens and lightens moods, even in the ICU.

DR. CHRISTI CORRIVEAU, MATTIE'S DOCTOR: Unique. Encouraging. Someone who really is a very gifted child. And has been able to take a bad disease and a worse situation being in the hospital for so long, and turn it into something positive.

KOCH: Since there is little more they can do for him medically, the staff is helping Mattie emotionally, fulfilling his wishes. One, a question-filled phone chat with his hero, former president Jimmy Carter.

STEPANEK: Didn't (UNINTELLIGIBLE) my mom was like, honey, Jimmy Carter doesn't have all day.

KOCH: Another, the publication of his book of poetry, "Heart Songs."

STEPANEK: There is a song in everyone's heart; we just have to listen to it and everybody's heart doesn't need to have the same song.

GAYLE GILMORE, SOCIAL WORKER: I think he has incredible insight for a child of 11. He has such a vibrant personality. He has such a warm way about him that he just draws people in. STEPANEK: I stared at the creature and our eyes met and then fixed.

KOCH: Mattie's mother, who also suffers from the disease, has recorded his poems and stories since he was three.

Mattie at age 11 has a few final wishes, to go home, to read his poetry on the "Rosie O'Donnell" and Oprah Winfrey" shows.

STEPANEK: A champion is a optimist, a hopeful spirit.

KOCH: And to teach others who are suffering his motto. Remember to play after every storm.

STEPANEK: We have lots of life storms, lots of hard things happen, but you always have to get through the storms, and after we do, we have to celebrate about it.

KOCH: Kathleen Koch for CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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