Medical miracle Kiri Schroeter looks back on life, love and the genius of Professor David David

HE’S the brave little boy who won our hearts with his positive attitude despite facing unimaginable physical challenges. Now Kiri Schroeter is all grown up and full of optimism, with a four-year-old daughter and a loving partner.

Kiri Schroeter with his daughter Holly at his parents’ Nuriootpa home. Picture: Calum Robertson

• Man of many faces: How Prof David David brings back the smiles
• Editorial: Kiri Schroeter the face of life-changing surgery
• Professor David David named 2018 South Australian of the Year
• Editorial: Kiri is an inspiration to us all

FROM the start, it seemed Kiri Schroeter was faced with a life of misery.

Yet, here he is today, full of optimism with a four-year-old daughter and a loving partner.

Born without hands and feet and his jaw and lips fused tightly together — and then abandoned in a shoebox at a Cambodian orphanage in 1992 — Kiri has overcome the odds.

“I’m pretty happy right now. A lot of people ask me how I do stuff and I tell them I’ve had 26 years to figure out how to do it,” he told the Sunday Mail.

He was found by an Australian aid worker, flown to South Australia as a frail nine-month-old and adopted by Nuriootpa couple Robyn and Neville Schroeter.

It was in SA that his fortunes changed and he became one of the most high-profile patients of world-renowned craniofacial surgeon Professor David David.

Kiri Schroeter uses his mechanical hand to pull his dad Neville's nose in 1996.

Prof David has performed more than 40 life-changing surgeries on Kiri as a child and teenager. Kiri is in a long-term relationship with partner Marianna, 24, and a father to four-year-old Holly.

“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Prof David. I wouldn’t have the life that I have now,” he said. “He deserves it (being South Australian of the Year, announced last week),” Kiri says.

The admiration is mutual. “Kiri is unbelievable,” Prof David said. “The thing about him (when he was a baby) was his eyes. (They said) ‘I’m not going to die. I’m not going to wither away. I’m very tough and I’m very important.

“Anything you can do, he can do better without fingers and he has got prosthetic feet.

“He is terrific and he has bloody fabulous adoptive parents. They are good people.”

Kiri Schroeter in May 1992.

Kiri Schroeter enjoys a hamburger after leaving Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

Kiri speaks fondly about Holly, who keeps him busy and, like him, loves skateboarding.

“She’s asked me a few times ‘Where are your fingers?’ but she doesn’t really care. I just tell her daddy was born without fingers,” Kiri said.

“The biggest thing I was worried about when my partner was pregnant was Holly turning out like me but when we got the CAT scans she was perfectly normal. It was a big relief.”

“She likes skateboarding and she comes to the skate park with me all the time. I bought her a proper skateboard for Christmas last year and she has been big on it ever since.”

The fact Kiri has prosthetic feet makes his skateboarding achievements all the more impressive. It doesn’t perturb him or the people judging his performances, as his mother recalls about a competition at Nuriootpa a few years ago.

“Kiri came home with a really funny look on his face and I said ‘How did you go?’ and he said ‘I came second’ and I said ‘What did you win?’ and he said ‘A pair of thongs’,” Mrs Schroeter said. “We all cracked up. Everyone was in stitches because he’s got no feet and they were expensive thongs.”

Kiri Schroeter with his daughter Holly at his parents’ Nuriootpa home. Picture: Calum Robertson

Kiri — whose profile was further enhanced when a heavy-metal band discovered a video of him playing drums — met Marianna while performing at his first concert about eight years ago.

“We said ‘hello’ after I finished playing and a couple of days later she added me on Facebook,” he said.

“It was about a year or two after that we started dating.”

Marianna works at the Adelaide Central Market while Kiri is doing a course in 3D animation and computer programming for gaming at the Academy of Interactive Entertainment, in Adelaide.

He says he doesn’t plan to have any more surgery for now because “I’ve had so much surgery and I’m just over it”.

Craniofacial surgeon Professor David David has been named 2018 South Australian of the Year. Picture: Matt Turner

Prof David, meanwhile, said he had one aim before he died — to get a national craniofacial unit.

“South Australia is yards ahead of the whole game but what we want to do is make sure our country is ahead of the game,” he said.

“Then when Australia is the best of the best, let’s make sure Indonesia can do it, let’s make sure Malaysia can do it.”