Almost 50 years ago, just an hour after what doctors had expected to be a normal birth, newly born Eric Franzmeier underwent surgery to correct a diaphragmatic hernia.
With such a condition, abdominal organs can move into the chest cavity, often causing difficulty breathing for newborns and high morbidity and mortality. During that surgery, doctors inserted a artificial diaphragm.
“It wasn’t any more than just a few hours later that they realized that they had to — they’d squeezed him too tight when they sewed him up — so (then) they put in a great big plastic window so you could look right into his abdomen,” said Ed Franzmeier, Eric’s dad. Every 10 days or so, they reduced its size until finally removing it. Eric still has an artificial diaphragm.
Eric Franzmeier, center, with his parents Sue and Ed Franzmeier, as friends and family gather for an early celebration of Eric’s 50th birthday in Stillwater on Saturday, Aug. 23, 2025. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
With two other young children at home, Ed and Sue Franzmeier took turns visiting Eric at the hospital every day for nearly three months, except during one heavy snowfall. For the first several weeks, the parents received “not real good news,” Sue said, such as when they were told biopsies of Eric’s liver showed no living tissue.
“Of course, we expected, well, this is the end. This is what’s going to kill him. And then changes were made by the doctors … and things did get better,” Ed said, with Eric’s liver eventually recovering.
All these years later, Eric Franzmeier, of Stillwater, is weeks short of celebrating his 50th birthday on Oct. 2.
‘Offered some hope’
Looking back, Sue Franzmeier said, “you wonder how you made it through it all.”
After his birth, Eric had a series of surgeries, Ed Franzmeier said.
“He was in the hospital for a total of 111 days,” Ed said. “And I think it was right around the 90-day mark that we were offered some hope that he was going to survive. But even at Day 111, when we took him home, they told us, ‘Take him home and enjoy him while you can because we don’t know how long he’s going to make it.’”
The Franzmeiers returned to their Maplewood home with Eric, who was nearly 3 months old.
Eric’s brother Scott Franzmeier said he remembers the community support for the family and the prayers said over the loudspeaker every day for Eric at their Catholic grade school, which Scott said he believes is a big reason Eric pulled through.
Eric Franzmeier gets a hug from his cousin, Marida Stahovich, of San Diego. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
“Fortunately, we’re strong believers in Christ, and prayer carried us through. Prayer, good friends and people we worked with,” Ed said.
After Eric was home, the bank Ed worked at held a contest for a one week all-expenses-paid trip to a Florida resort, which he won. Ed and Sue, with Eric watched over by a nurse they knew, took the trip.
“I didn’t realize until we got back and we had a wonderful time that all four of the other guys wrote my name on the ticket, so that no matter which (one) was drawn, I was going to get that all-expenses-paid vacation,” Ed said.
‘Love Bus’
As Eric grew up, he spent time with his two older siblings and attended a school in Centerville. That’s when he first rode on a school bus called the “Love Bus,” known as such for its driver and aide who regularly decorated the vehicle, dressed up for holidays and made it a positive experience for the students.
A St. Paul Pioneer Press and Dispatch article from Oct. 1982, featuring a photo of Eric Franzmeier. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
“Even though it is a brief ride, the trip is clearly full of love and warmth — feelings that seem to be mandated by driver Geno Domini and his aide, Marcie Mlynarczyk,” a Pioneer Press article said in 1982. A picture of 7-year-old Eric with Domini ran in the paper at the time.
“And they took really good care of the kids. It was maybe six or seven kids that rode on the bus like that and picked them up at various locations and took them out to Centerville,” Ed said.
As Eric got older, he underwent several more surgeries related to the diaphragmatic hernia and dealt with seizures. But Eric said his health is good now.
Celebration ‘a special miracle’
On Aug. 23, the Franzmeiers celebrated Eric’s 50th birthday at his Stillwater home. Though his birthday is in October, the family wanted to take advantage of the nice weather. In March, Eric also will celebrate 30 years working at the Home Depot.
“We’ve said many times … that it was a miracle he survived 50 days,” Scott said. “The fact that we’re now celebrating 50 years is just absolutely amazing.”
Notes are left for Eric Franzmeier as friends and family gather for an early celebration of his 50th birthday in Stillwater on Saturday, Aug. 23, 2025. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
Just don’t remind Eric.
“My older brother says last week to me, he goes, ‘Eric, you know you’re going to turn 50?’ I go, ‘I know, can you not? Because you’re going to drive me crazy. I know,’” Eric said.
Guests at the party enjoyed NASCAR-themed cookies — Eric is a regular attendee of races and has a large collection of NASCAR shirts — and left notes with well-wishes. Pictures hung up outside showed Eric over the years, from when he was a day old to playing sports — he’s now retired from the Special Olympics — and attending NASCAR events.
A message hung up from his dad commemorated Eric’s start on “shaky ground,” but “what a Special Miracle we have in Eric.”
There’s only one living family member who can bring so many people together, Scott said.
‘He’s always smiling’
Also in attendance at the party was David Dereschuk, who works with Eric at the Home Depot. They met nearly 30 years ago at the store. Now, Eric is like a little brother, attending Dereschuk’s family gatherings or going to sports games with him. Dereschuk is “semi-retired,” he said, but makes sure he’s there when Eric is working.
Eric Franzmeier, right, talks with his longtime coworker David Deroschuk, left, as Eric’s dad, Ed, listens as friends and family gather for an early celebration of Eric’s 50th birthday in Stillwater. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
“If he wasn’t there, I’d be retired,” Dereschuk said. “He is why I go to work. He makes me feel better. He’s just, he’s always smiling. And we just have so much fun going back and forth, don’t we?”
“Yup,” Eric said.
Eric mingled with the guests, friends and family, from multiple states, who’d come to celebrate 50 years with him, ones that were once uncertain.
“I’m excited that all of them came,” Eric said.
Related Articles
Hy-Vee pulls out of Stillwater development, sparking hunt for new grocer
A five-mile run through the Minnesota State Fair? Sure, if fried-food stops are included
Teen with BB gun apprehended at Stillwater Area High School football game
Stillwater lands 2026 MN Governor’s Fishing Opener
St. Croix River bridge work continues this week
Leave a Reply