Man Blacks Out at His Friend's Gender Reveal Party — and Doesn't Remember the Next Year (Exclusive)

Zachary Schimmel knew he had the most important role at his friend’s party discovered in July 2021.

“I was the only person who knew the gender of the child,” says Schimmel, who was 27 at the time, People says. “No one else is. Neither he, nor his girlfriend, nor my girlfriend, none of his family. Nobody knew gender but me. And I was so excited about it.”

Schimmel was in charge of the cake, which had a pink center and “small hoods” pink and blue glaze. The baby on top wore a pink and blue stripe. “I was so at that!” says Schimmel.

He and his girlfriend picked up the cake and headed for his friend’s house in Leland, North Carolina, just ahead of Wilmington.

Zachary Schimmel before diagnosis of brain tumor.

Kachary Schimmel’s kindness

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But when they arrived, things turned.

“I got maybe two steps toward the porch, and then my legs were fluttering and I stumbled down the stairs and fell on my butt in the grass,” Schimmel recalls, now 30 years. “I got up and suddenly I didn’t feel very good.” Because he wore jeans and a black T -shirt about what he describes as “the warmest day of the year,” he assumed it was thermal exhaustion.

Despite his protests, someone called 911, but when an ambulance arrived, he says, “I pushed them away.”

After the paramedics left, he continued to feel bad. “I’m like,” I’m going home and I’m sleeping this. “” He wished his friends a final card. While he and his girlfriend headed for the car, he fell again. The same ambulance returned.

“Paramedic comes out and he’s like,” Hey, man, this is our second time here, so by law, you have to come with us now, “Schimmel says. Begromont, he went into an ambulance. The last thing he remembers is a conversation with Emt – then he started having a seizure and lost consciousness.

Zachary Schimmel at the hospital.

Kachary Schimmel’s kindness

An ambulance took him to Brunswick County Hospital, where doctors found that his brain had been expanded and he had hydrocephalus (fluid on his brain). However, more worrying, it was that CT scan revealed that he had a brain tumor. They tried to make MRI, but he had another seizure. He was transferred to the New Hanover Hospital on Wilmington on the same day.

Doctors diagnosed Schimmel a very rare type of brain cancer, pineal parenchymal tumors of intermediate differentiation (PTTID).

“He has a rare rare type of cancer,” says Dr. Margaret Johnson, MD, MPH, Neuro-oncologist who later treated him at Duke University.

Schimmel had 12 brain operations and procedures in one month. He almost doesn’t remember anything in the whole year after the party,

Zachary Schimmel at the hospital.

Kachary Schimmel’s kindness

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Schimmel is one of five children, and all four of his sisters, parents and stepmother traveled to a hospital from New York, North Carolina and Florida to be with him. His family launched Gofundme to help with medical accounts.

In September, his sister Lexxie Bligh, a 33-year-old nurse, applied for a job in the Duke University Neurology Department, hoping to help her brother be accepted as a patient in Duke Health. She spoke about her brother’s case in her voyage letter and a job interview. A few weeks later she was hired.

On November 12, after 105 days at New Hanover Hospital, Schimmel went home to Wilmington. (He and his girlfriend were no longer together.) He was in a wheelchair and needed care for him. His mother and sisters “marked the markings,” took him to many doctors and outpatient therapy as he rethinking how to walk, talk, eat and take care of himself.

Zachary Schimmel recovered after brain surgery.

Kachary Schimmel’s kindness

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When Lexxie moved to Durham because of her new position in Duke, she continued to try to accept her brother as a patient, even though he lived a few hours away. Finally, this happened in December 2024.

In mid-January, he had a 13th brain surgery-a trip to Duke-how to mitigate the pressure in the brain. About a week later, intensive chemotherapy and radiation began. He moved with Lexxie to be closer to his care team.

“Me and my husband like to have it as a roommate,” she says.

Schimmel is now legally blind because the brain tumor has caused a spare copy that injured his optical nerve, Johnson explains. But he can walk again and mostly recovered physically. His MRI are stable.

“He made huge steps,” Johnson says. “With everything he went through, he did incredibly good. He pushed himself.”

Now he thinks about his journey. “Cancer is shit,” he says. “It’s miserable. Surviving Cancer is the worst thing I’ve ever done in my life, but I’ve met some of the best people as a result.”

Zachary Schimmel after medical temptation.

With permission from K Hammock Photography-Durham, nc

Schimmel, who installed HVacs before his medical torture, has since learned Braille and trained to become an analyst of a digital accessibility to testing websites and mobile applications to see how many those who are adapted to users for people who are different.

“It’s amazing,” Lexxie says. “Because today my brother is from the one who was first and foremost – and it was a long time when we didn’t think it would be possible.” Schimmel shares his story to spread hope.

“Other people who are just diagnosed with cancer I would like to say: it is not the end. It is most likely to change your life, but that is okay. That doesn’t mean it’s the end, it just means it’s a new beginning.”

Zachary Schimmel.

With permission from K Hammock Photography-Durham, nc

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Source: HIS Education