Carter spoke at her teen son’s funeral. She was honored to attend his.
Jeni Stepanek’s son Mattie had forged a bond with Carter in 2001, days before he was supposed to die. Mattie had said one of ...
People22d
How Jimmy Carter Formed an Unlikely Friendship with a Terminally Ill Boy and Brought Joy to His Final Years (Exclusive)
"If it hadn't been for Jimmy Carter, I think my son would have given up," Jeni Stepanek tells PEOPLE of her son, Mattie, who died in 2004 at the age of 13 Elissa Rosen is a writer-reporter at PEOPLE.
WTOP News22d
Mattie and Jimmy: The friendship of the president and young Rockville poet
Carter cowrote the book with a little boy from Rockville, Maryland, who was battling a rare form of muscular dystrophy. Mattie Stepanek met his hero — Carter — face to face for the first time ...
AOL22d
How Jimmy Carter Formed an Unlikely Friendship with a Terminally Ill Boy — and Brought Joy to His Final Years (Exclusive)
Mattie Stepanek first learned about Jimmy Carter when he was just 6 years old. While most kids his age might not be interested in a former U.S. president, Mattie was different. "He said ...