Maggie’s bucket list: Skydive over Northport Harbor honors teen who died of rare cancer

Two skydivers soared over Northport Harbor and onto the front lawn of the Vanderbilt Museum in Centerport this past Friday evening, a “bucket list” goal fulfilled in honor of Maggie Schmidt, a Greenlawn teen who passed away in 2017 after developing MRT (malignant rhabdoid tumors), a rare and aggressive cancer that originated in her abdomen and quickly metastasized throughout her body. She was 17 years old.

The skydive jump was witnessed by spectators in and around Northport Harbor and a crowd of family and friends gathered at the “Glow for Gold Angelversary Gala,” a fundraising event held at the Vanderbilt to celebrate Maggie’s spirit, energy and love of life while raising funds to fight pediatric cancers and assist families in need.

The theme for this year’s Glow for Gold gala was borrowed from Maggie’s Sweet 16 celebration, a glow party that would mark her last healthy and happy birthday. “We’re bringing our sixth anniversary back to a time when life was beautiful, innocent, and carefree,” read a Facebook post about the event.

Maggie’s mom, Donna DeSousa-Schmidt, was planning on skydiving to the event with retired US Golden Knight Mike Elliott, a combat veteran who holds the distinct honor of taking the late President George H.W. Bush on three tandem parachute jumps. Going skydiving was just one of the items on Maggie’s bucket list.

As soon as Elliott and Donna arrived at Republic Airport, however, they saw clouds, some lightning, and red on their radar, DeSousa-Schmidt told the Journal in an email on Saturday. “Maggie loved a good thunderstorm and well, I feel she made her presence known last night in a large way,” she said.

There was talk of completely canceling the jump, which was deemed too dangerous for Donna to attempt. Instead, Elliott sent two experienced parachuters from his All Veteran Group out on the skydive: Jennifer Espinosa, who released Maggie’s ashes mid-jump, and Mario Rivera, who filmed it.

Jennifer Pinto from JK Consulting, a marketing and branding agency in Northport, helped DeSousa-Schmidt connect with Elliott and his team back in the fall; that connection led to the skydiving event. “We had to jump through many hurdles and hoops to make it all come together, but I am tenacious as Maggie was and we were all so close,” said Donna.

While not the way her family would have expected or wanted, Maggie was able to accomplish that bucket list item Friday night, “when Jen released part of [her] ashes over the beautiful Long Island Sound and the Vanderbilt Museum – the place Maggie should have had her prom pictures taken had she lived long enough,” Donna said.

Donna and her husband Steve found Maggie’s bucket list in a notebook in her room after she passed. “She had actually written two bucket lists,” Donna told the Journal. “We believe one was written before she became sick and the other after, since the second-to-last wish was ‘Make it to be an adult.’” Other items on Maggie’s bucket list included seeing the northern lights, traveling cross country, and going “legit” rock climbing.

The Schmidt family continues to honor Maggie via the nonprofit Maggie’s Mission, which became official in September 2017, just four months after Maggie’s death. Since then, the volunteer-based organization has raised over $2 million (and counting) to help other children and young adults dealing with cancer – a request Maggie made to her parents before she died.

“We’re very grateful for the Vanderbilt’s support of our mission, they have been so wonderful to our foundation,” Donna said. “We could not think of a more beautiful place to honor our only daughter, Maggie, her love of life, and dying wishes to help save children from suffering.”

Donna has plans of contacting Elliott and his All Veteran Group again, to see if they can reschedule the tandem skydive in the future. Though disappointed she couldn’t make the jump herself this time, Donna said she feels “honored and blessed for everyone who came together and who consistently comes together time and time again to support our foundation and help us do ‘The Good We Do’ to support children and their families”

“I’d still love to experience what it must feel like to jump from the sky,” she said. “They say it’s as close to heaven as you can get.”

To learn more about Maggie’s Mission, or to donate, click here.