Women Inspiring Women - Meet Amy Schmidt

Women Inspiring Women - meet Amy Schmidt, warrior wife, mother, professional and all around awesome human.

I first met Amy a few decades ago when we were both toddlers (no just kidding, but we WERE babies! ??) through my husband, Bob. Amy and Bob are both from the same hometown (Lemberg, SK). I remember how warm and fun Amy was - over the years I’ve been following her family’s story and have consistently been in awe of how Amy walks through this world.

Amy is a mom and a wife. Her family has had its share of ups and downs over the years - what strikes me is how committed Amy is to persevering with her chin up and with gratitude. She and her family are incredible.

Amy, it is an honour to know you and thank you for sharing your journey with us. ??

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1. Tell us about you!

Hey! First off, thank you for giving me the opportunity to share my life with you. My name is Amy Schmidt. I’m an Occupational Health & Safety Professional, a mother of two (Ella,15 & Zachary, 10), and a wife (Trent). Trent and I met when I was a single mother and Ella was just 2 years old. He embraced us both as a whole, and if you were to ask her… she is the very reason our family exists. Our family loves being outside and spending time on the water. We have a small cabin just outside the city and it's our tiny piece of heaven we go to as often as we can. I love summer (and am a little sad it's coming to an end) and I love to paddleboard, so I try to enjoy every last ray of sunshine I can while on the water.

2. How has living through a pandemic shaped your experiences this past year?

This is a big question. This has been such a hard year (and a half) for everyone so I feel like I need to take a deep breath before answering… *inhales, exhales*

When the word ‘virus’ started to pop up in the news and on social media in early 2020, my husband Trent and I had many conversations about what we thought we should do in order to keep our family as safe as possible.

A little background:

2013 - My husband was diagnosed with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis, an illness that creates scar tissue in your lungs and has a life expectancy of 3-5 years.

September 2018 - he spent 5 weeks on life support after his lungs quit working.

October 30, 2018 - he received a life-saving double lung transplant.

November 2018 - he was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer (in his old lungs, but it had traveled to other areas of his body).

July 2019 - cancer-free and sent home to live life again - OUTSIDE the hospital walls!

Because of all of this, Trent has no immune system. And when the conversations of some new virus was going around, this made us concerned as we knew something like that could put him back into the hospital. And as much as we love the UofA, we don’t enjoy living there. So in mid-February 2020, we both left work pulled the kids out of school and stayed home. I was fortunate enough I was able to work from home, and the kids' teachers knew what we had been through so they helped by sending things home for the kids to work on. Some people thought we were overreacting, but I felt like overreacting was our only option. Because not reacting and exposing Trent to a virus like this was not an option for us. And then 3 weeks later the rest of the world "went home" so it at least confirmed to us we were doing the right thing.

It’s been hard, but we’ve been through worse. If I had to relive a year out of our lives over again and was only able to choose out of the last 5 years… I’d pick 2020 in a heartbeat.

Even though in September of 2020 Trent was re-diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and given a year to live, 2020 was actually pretty great for us. We spent A LOT of time with just the 4 of us, we played games, went camping, ice skating on the lake in the winter, swimming in the summer, we designed and made an entire life-size surfing Santa & palm trees for our front lawn over the Christmas holidays, we video chatted with family who we had never done that with before, we baked bread and cookies, we read new books, and did more crafts than you could ever imagine - we just made the best out of it in every way possible.

3. You are such a pillar of strength through the challenges you face as a family. Where do you draw your strength from?

I remember telling myself over and over that the situation with Trent in hospital “is what it is”. I gave myself two options: #1- I could fall apart, cry and be miserable OR 2 - roll with it. I knew that whatever the outcome would be with Trent wouldn’t change either way. So I chose #2 every time.

Some days I have strength… other days I call my sisters and cry about life.

My family and friends have been (and still are) unbelievably amazing. When Trent was living in the hospital for months on end, one of my sisters, my Mom & Step-Dad, my Dad and Step-Mom, Trent’s family, our friends… someone was ALWAYS at my house. None of my family even live in the same city as me, but everyone took turns putting their lives on hold to help me. People I hadn’t seen or heard from in years, even strangers helped our family.

I honestly believe I would not have made it through without the support I had around me.

There is nothing I can do or say to repay everything that everyone did for me and my family, I just hope they all know how grateful I am for everything they did for us.

4. Who are the people you draw inspiration from?

My kids. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have been strong enough throughout all of this if it wasn’t for them. For years I joked that Trent was “the better parent”, I knew I had to step up my game while he was sick - they needed me.

5. What is the best advice you've received that you'd like to share?

Don’t try to do things alone.

Let people help you.

Ask for help when you need it.

Talk and share your story.

… because in my experience, when you allow all that into your life, you find out you aren’t alone and it makes it easier to get through it.

6. How do we learn more? How do we support?

I write a blog (though I haven't this last year) and if anyone is ever interested in reading more about our story: https://amyschmidtblogs.weebly.com/ I’m ALWAYS open to talking with anyone about our story and sharing so reach out if you’d like!

Check out the Lung Association - they do amazing things www.ab.lung.ca

I'm always up for giving shout outs:

To the amazing Lung Team we have (just to name a few... Alim Hirji, Ali Kapasi, Justin Weinkauf, Dale Lien, Kieran Halloran, Gilda, Farzana - and the entire team that comes with these amazing individuals)

A well-deserved shout-out goes to the entire staff at the ICU at the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute - appreciate them keeping my husband alive for as long as they did. And for keeping me company while I sat next to Trent every day.

And the most important shout out of all… to Trent’s donor and donor family. You are the reason I still have a husband and the reason my kids have their Dad. To date, you have given us 1030 days more as a family. Thank you will never be enough. I know you had to experience sadness in order for my family to experience joy and I don’t take a second of that for granted. I am eternally grateful for you all and the selfless decision you made to become an organ donor.

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I’m not crying, YOU’RE crying right?! Thank you SO MUCH for sharing Amy!!! Your story and your optimism are incredibly inspiring. Thank you. ??????