Heart Transplant for Rob Smith needing 24-7 care

UPDATE: Heart Transplant was Successful!!  My Nana got a call from the Doctor at 3am Pacific Time, My dad did exceptionally well, has a young strong heart and they took him off of the machine!  I will keep you updated as he progresses and moves to the next stage!  Thank you all very much for your donations, I don't want my dad to deal with any of the expenses during his recovery over the next few months.





Hi, My name is Nicole Smith I am 20 years old, Rob is my Dad. He was diagnosed with A fib in 2014 and had the first surgery on his heart. In 2015 he moved back to California to care for his mother as my Aunt Tracy had stage 4 cancer in her lungs, breast and liver, which she died from in 2016.

In 2017, my dad's heart was getting worse and he had a double sided Stroke. This affected the part of the brain where he couldn't speak. He spent 4 years in therapy learning to speak again. He can communicate to us, but most of the time he cannot get the words out. I am so proud of my dad for fighting every day, he's a strong fighter.

After his stroke, the doctors gave him a pace maker that went off many times and needed multiple adjustments. I cant even count the times he's been in and out of the hospital with his heart racing non stop, the pace maker going off and medication changes. His heart doctor monitored his heart though his pace maker off site and would call to tell him to get to the hospital.

Since 2020, the hospital in his home town on the central coast is unable to do any more for his heart, they can only make him as comfortable as possible. At this point the hospital has had to transfer him to Stanford near the Bay area, because they could no longer help him.

In March of this year, my dad called to let us know he was being transferred again to Stanford and he was told this time he needed a new heart. We couldn't bare the thought of not seeing him again, if he didn't make it through this. We took an emergency leave out to California to see him. He got better again, was sent home and I got to hug my dad and have a few hours out of a few days with him, we were happy the medication worked.

My dad's been transferred back and forth between the 2 hospitals every 2 weeks and watching your own dad suffer tremendously is heart breaking. He's had 9 ablations, medications changed just to go back to the original medications again and between the pace maker adjustments and his heart wont stop racing, he's still here fighting!

On August 3rd my dad asked if I would be his caregiver for 3 months, that he was being put on the list for a heart transplant and needed 24/7 care, without hesitation I told him yes, I would be there for him. I could tell this was great news for him. He couldn't wait to call his Nurse, MSN, RN, Pre-Transplant Coordinator: Nichole. August 4th, my dad had another scheduled ablation. August 5th my mom and I had a zoom call with Nichole to prep for the transplant. She told us my dad had cardiac arrest during the procedure, that he had no blood pressure and had to do chest compressions twice. They had to hook him up to an ECMO device: Life Support. He was stable throughout the night and was able to remove the ECMO the following day. So this has moved his Heart transplant spot to being first on the list.

August 9th, My Dad has received the gift of a heart from a 20 year old donor. As the donor's family grieves their loss, please know how much it means to us that my dad has a longer life because of their child chose to be a donor and we will be forever in their debt. My Dad will be in surgery on August 10th and we know his new heart is strong and so precious for both families, I hope someday our family can meet our donors family and show that their child's heart will live on. This donor is saving my dads life, Thank You!

I'm asking for your help. I need to get to California without any delays the day he is released from Stanford Hospital, I must be present during the doctors pre-release instructions. I'm not a driver, and I will depend on Uber/Lyft/Taxi service's the entire time. My Dad and I will be in subsidized housing. He will have Doctor appointments 3 to 4 times a week, medications to get refilled, grocery shopping, food and a few necessities. The timeframe can be extended past the 3 months if there's any complications, but we feel very good about his heart transplant, and I am willing to continue to be his caregiver as long as it takes for him to heal.

Thank you so much, anything would be helpful for us to get through this.