OU Health Doctors Pioneer Brain Stent Surgery Saving Bridge Creek Man’s Life

An Oklahoma man is celebrating Christmas with his family thanks to doctors at OU Health. Doctors performed a procedure for the first time, and it saved a man’s life.

“Every day you get up; thank God you’re alive,” said Todd Sheets, who lives in Bridge Creek. “Life is short. Cherish it. Go forward. Keep stepping forward. Because there’s always something else.”

Inside the Sheets household a mother and her son live life together.

“I learned how to cook from her; from a young age,” said Sheets, as he prepared dinner with his mother.

Simple experiences mean a whole lot more to Sheets and his mother Sonie. Since April of 2012, Todd’s health turned against him.

“It’s been a long road for the last 10 years,” Sheets said.

Sheets served as a police officer for ten years and as an oil pipeline worker. Over the past decade, he lost his independence.

“I’ve always been very active,” Sheets said.

Sheets said he’s had 19 surgeries over the years.

“I’ve got so many medical bills,” Sheets said. “You wouldn’t believe it.”

Todd could barely speak–he could hardly walk.

“I was having to feed him through a tube into his stomach for a long time,” Sonie Sheets said.

Not to mention a 100 percent block in his basilar artery.

“He wasn’t getting adequate blood supply to the back of his brain,” said Dr. Hakeem Shakir, a neurosurgeon at OU Health.

All Sheets could do was wait to die.

“Go home and wait to have a stroke,” Sheets said. “It’s imminent, it’s coming. You deal with that on a daily basis.”

Sonie lost a baby when she was younger. She couldn’t imagine losing another son.

“He had a bad heart,” she said. “And he just failed. I’m supposed to go first. I’m the mother.”

Shakir and cardiologist Dr. Mohit Pahuja pioneered a procedure to save Sheets’ life.

“This was a very high-risk case,” Shakir said. “There’s no rule book on what to do when a vessel in the brain is like this.”

For the first time in Oklahoma, Dr. Shakir used a stent–that's normally used in hearts–to unblock an artery in Sheets' brain.

“This procedure is so unique,” Pahuja said. “Placing stents in the brain can be much more challenging.”

The surgery was a success and soon Sheets was back at home with dramatic improvement in his quality of life.

“When you have the right team around you, it makes all the difference,” Shakir said.

“People like Todd makes it worth it,” Pahuja said.

The results bought more time for those simple moments between a mother and her son.

“I wanna keep him for a while,” Sonie Sheets said.

The actions of Sheets in the kitchen illustrated how perfect the surgery turned out.

“That’s kinda why we do what we do,” Shakir said.

Sheets is not just alive–he’s living his life.

“Yeah, it’s been a journey,” Shakir said. “I’ve learned a lot. “I’m very thankful for it. Merry Christmas.”