SAN ANGELO, Texas — Since Nov. 5 of this year, Mickey Shane Smith has been at Saint David's Hospital of Austin in the end stage of heart failure, waiting for good news. Mickey, who goes by Shane, is awaiting approval for an L-VAD implant to support his failing heart after years of complications.
"My first heart attack came at 29, so I've kind of been fighting it ever since then, and it just progressively got worse and stuff,” Smith said. “Sometimes we didn't have the money to pay for the meds I had so we'd have to go without those, and each time I did that it'd get a little bit worse."
Since then, Smith has had triple bypass surgery, as well as a pacemaker, defibrillator and temporary heart pump installed. Now, having had too many heart attacks to count, his family says there have been times he's wanted to give up.
"He was ready to give up at that point because he was just tired of being shocked. He was scared, so he actually asked if we could turn it off so he didn't have to feel this anymore,” his sister, Netasha Smith-Wilson said.
However, what gets him through is the love from his family and support from the West Texas community.
"I've always been a little rebel. When I was younger and everything I never felt like I was part of the community,” Smith said. “And then when this happened all of them jumped in with me, so Winters, Texas is my home and is always going to be my home from here on out."
Because he's awaiting approval for this potentially lifesaving surgery, Smith may have to spend Thanksgiving away from home. But his family is working to make sure that he has as much normalcy as possible.
"We all thought about all of our family driving up here and trying to do Thanksgiving with him,” Smith-Wilson said. “The issue is that we don't know that the hospital will let us.”
The toll of the situation weighs heavier on one family member in particular.
"My little brother more so than us because he is a daddy's boy. He loves his dad. So he's taking it the hardest,” his daughter, Hannah Smith said.
Even with the L-VAD surgery, the journey ahead is still full of work. Despite the uncertainty of what's to come, Smith finds comfort from his loving wife, kids, grandchildren, siblings and his community to keep his head above water.
"It's scary," Smith said. "But like I said, I've got good people behind me, so no matter how it comes out I'm going down with a smile."