MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — Rachel Schumacher and Timothy Schnurle met at a roller skating rink in Lynnwood about eight years ago.
With other friends around, the two teenagers just started talking and joking, said Schumacher, who was 11 at the time.
The disease causes the body to produce a thick, sticky mucus that clogs the respiratory and digestive tracts and leads to life-threatening infections, according to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
The disease Schnurle was born with weakened his health, forced him to go through a liver transplant and took his life on Aug. 13. He was 19 years old.
The death of her best friend devastated Schumacher.
“People say things happen for reasons,” she said. “But I didn’t see the good in it.”
It was several months before she started seeing positive things about the loss, Schumacher said.
“He doesn’t have to suffer any more. He doesn’t have to be at a hospital all the time,” she said.
On May 8, Schumacher, 18, organized a fundraising walk for cystic fibrosis at Mountlake Terrace High School as her senior project in memory of Schnurle.
Several dozen people participated in the fundraiser. Schumacher expected to collect more than $1,000 to donate to Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital near Tacoma, one of the hospitals where Schnurle fought the disease.
“It’s helped me turn the most difficult thing into the most positive thing,” Schumacher said.
Elaine Schnurle, Timothy Schnurle’s mother, said she served as an adviser for Schumacher’s project. The participants included some of her son’s friends, who stayed at his bedside in the last days before he died, and some of his teachers from kindergarten and elementary school.
“It helps me to know that a part of Tim is in everyone here, and his memory will always be alive,” said Schnurle, 51, of Brier.
Friend Cory Vance said he and Timothy Schnurle talked about almost everything. “Unless he was sick, he did everything everyone else did,” said Vance, 19, of Lynnwood.
Vance, who now takes emergency response classes at Edmonds Community College, said he still calls Schnurle’s cell phone number even though there is no answer.
“I’m still kind of dazed about it,” he said.
Schumacher said she plans to attend Western Washington University in preparation for medical school.
While he fought the disease, Schnurle always listened to others and checked how they were, she said.
“He cared about his friends a lot,” she said.
Yoshiaki Nohara is a reporter for the Herald in Everett.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
