Perseverance Story: Peter Schmidt

Over the course of four weeks, members of the community will be sharing their story.  These stories are about individuals and their experience with cancer or loss. They are the reason the Lowell community comes together for the Pink Arrow Football Game.  Each story is written by the person you will read about or by someone on their behalf unless otherwise noted. We thank them for sharing their story and courage.

Photos courtesy of Heather Eveland and are used with permission.   Heather donates her time to get to know those she is photographing and capture an image to be used with each story.  You can visit her photography website and Facebook page for more information about her work. 

Heather is also the volunteer coordinator for Pink Arrow events.  If you are interested in helping out at Fans in the Stands selling t-shirts, Community Day (Friday, Aug. 23) or game day (Friday, Sept. 13) please contact her by calling 616-291-8907 or send an email to [email protected].  Heather will let you or your group know what help is needed and determine the best fit. 

The following story is about Peter Schmidt written by him.

Nearly 13 years ago in October 2006 I was first diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, a bone marrow cancer.  It was a shocking experience. I was 36, married and my 4 kids were ages 5-10. During the next 3 years I went in and out of remission and in and out of my work. I cycled through 3 chemo regimens and then a stem cell transplant in May 2009.  We had moved to Lowell in 2007. The following year was the first Pink Arrow Pride game. Details are a little fuzzy this many years later…but we were grateful for the monetary gifts of help. I will never forget my first survivor walk through the stadium. Feeling all that support of community is amazing. When asked I took the opportunity to speak at elementary school Pink Arrow assemblies.

Last summer after 9 years in remission my cancer came back. Multiple Myeloma is not yet a curable disease. Perhaps one of the 5th graders I challenged to study science will find a cure.  I was not at all happy to face the process of fighting this disease again. But I have faced it. My kids are nearly all grown. My one daughter moved back from Chicago to live with me during this time. I was diagnosed Sept 12 2018. Part of the reoccurrence included a mass on my sacrum. I had radiation treatment first. By early October the effect caught up with me and I went off work on disability. I had 5 monthly rounds of treatment. Fatigue from chemo was the operative word. March 20th I had my second stem cell transplant. I was in the hospital for 19 days. Once home with zero immunity I had to avoid places like Meijer and playing in the dirt for about 3 months. I am at the end of that recovery period but returned to work July 8th. I recently began my own shopping again and great to see my favorite workers at Heidi’s Farmstand and Meijer. Thanks again to this community for showing your live and support of those of us dealing with cancer battles.

Wade Publishing, who also creates the Local Saver, will be putting together all of the 2019 Perseverance Stories into one publication which will be mailed out to the community in August.  Thanks to the following businesses!

Sponsors:
Arrow Veterinary
Showboat Automotive
Bernards Ace Hardware
Snow Avenue Greenhouse
Great Lake Paving
Arctic Inc. Heating & Cooling
Poultry Management

Co-sponsors:
A-1 Laser
Main St BBQ
Dependable LP
Ronda Auto
Lowell’s First Look
Optec

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