By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
Van Shipley underwent heart and kidney transplants at the University of Michigan Sept. 26-27.
He was released 19 days later on Oct. 14 - the day before his 56th birthday.
Four years ago, in December 2000, he suffered a heart attack. He's always had kidney problems since he was in his 20s.
He's lost 50 pounds from his previous 190 and a muscular build from lifting weights.
At one time he did auto painting for Keene's and Haggin-Wimberley Ford.
Van was added to the heart transplant waiting list Aug. 12, but it was not until Sept. 24 that he went on the kidney transplant list.
Right now he's still returning to U of M weekly, with his next trip Tuesday.
Their son, Devan, 8, "has been real good through all of this," Carla said.
Van and Carla used to wave to each other passing on the road when he lived in Buchanan and his wife, a Decatur native, lived in Dowagiac.
Van is from eastern Kentucky originally.
Van doesn't yet know anything about the circumstances of his donor.
He plans to write to the family and it will be up to them whether to respond, but he wants to know about the person who gave him new life.
Van speaks in a hoarse whisper, which he explains is from a paralyzed vocal cord caused by a tube put down his throat during his heart attack.
But after five months, he began to weaken again.
Convinced it was "my time to go," Van didn't want a heart transplant. "She and the boy had to talk me into it."
Devan attends third grade at Kincheloe.