Walking Miracle
Published: August 15, 2007
It’s a story that will make you think twice before you complain about the little things.
The Schumacher family is celebrating three milestones. The family’s first-year tanning business, ‘Life’s a Beach’, is a success, their daughter is home from basic training for the Air Force, and their son Dereck is still doing well…7 years after his double-lung transplant!
“I feel pretty good. I’m getting around a lot,” Dereck tells us.
But life hasn’t always been a beach for Dereck Potkovic. He was born with a hole in his diaphragm, and couldn’t play with other kids. His stepfather Jim Schumacher describes Dereck’s struggles.
“Before his transplant, he drug around an oxygen tank all day, and he wasn’t able to move,” Jim says.
But Dereck’s mom Lynette says the risky transplant wasn’t an easy decision for the family.
“You try to decide ‘Am I playing God? Am I putting him through this just because I want him to live for me, or is it for him?’”
The family decided to go for it, and Dereck received a new set of lungs at the Children’s Hospital in Saint Louis. Doctors gave him 3 to 5 years. Seven years later…he’s the second-longest living lung-recipient from the hospital.
“It feels amazing, considering what I’ve gone through, and what I’m not even supposed to be doing right now, it’s amazing,” Dereck exclaims.
One of those things is go to school…just like everybody else. Classmate Brittany Vos says Dereck’s positive attitude rubs off on everyone at school.
“You see him walking down the hall at school, he’s always smiling. You say ‘Hey D-Pot, how are you doing?’”
And with five other siblings in the house…don’t expect any special treatment for D-Pot.
“We try to treat them all the same. Don’t try to build our whole life around our one medically dependent child, because that’s not fair to them either,” Lynette explains.
Dereck’s 16 surgeries and 30 pills a day have taken a toll on his body. His kidneys are beginning to fail. But the family just takes things one day at a time.
“So many times we let things bog us down in life, so he’s a good example,” Jim says.
Dereck is also happy he could be here to see his mom fulfill her dream of opening her own business.
“Mom’s really done a lot for me. I don’t think I could ever have a better mom,” Dereck says matter-of-factly.
Lynette’s philosophy is simple.
“People ask me all the time, ‘How do you do it, how do you do it?’ I think the bottom line is you just find a way. You get thrown in the middle and have two choices, either you sink or you swim,” she says.
And it appears this family has plenty of swimming left to do.
So far, Dereck’s hospital bills add up to more than 4 million dollars! Despite that cost, Lynette and the family constantly give back to the community. Most recently they donated 70 DVD players to the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, where Dereck now receives his treatments.
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