From transplant recipient to nurse: Tommy Schomaker's story

At 8-years-old, Tommy Schomaker was experiencing heart failure and needed a heart transplant; his body was no longer able to keep up with his congenital heart defect, hypoplastic left heart syndrome.

After receiving his heart transplant in 2009, Schomaker was able to live out the rest of his childhood without major medical concerns. 

Once he graduated high school though, everything changed.

Schomaker started to experience headaches that turned into intense body aches.

He was soon diagnosed with a form of leukemia associated with the anti-rejection medication given to patients after a transplant.

After six months of chemotherapy, Schomaker was cancer free and able to begin attending college at Michigan State University as he had planned. 

He wasn’t sure of the career path he wanted to take, but quickly found that his time spent in Mott as a child had called him to be a pediatric nurse.

Schomaker graduated from MSU in May of 2025 and has since been working as a nursing assistant at C.S. Mott Children's Hospital on 11 West, the floor he received care many times in his life. 

Not only is he back where he received his care, but he's now even working with some of the nursing teams that took care of him as a child.

Schomaker has also been placed on the five-year cancer survivors list.

“Seeing Tommy thrive today and watching him make an impact on the lives of so many families by sharing his story is amazing,” said Kurt Schumacher, M.D., a pediatric cardiologist at Mott and Schomaker’s cardiologist since childhood.

“Tommy has always been strong and resilient, no matter what life has thrown at him. We all knew he was destined to do great things, and it is wonderful to be able to witness them happening here at Mott.”

Sign up for Health Lab newsletters today. Get medical tips from top experts and learn about new scientific discoveries every week.

Sign up for the Health Lab Podcast. Add us wherever you listen to your favorite shows.