Manatee County woman is in high risk category for COVID-19. She’s battled it and won
It was April 6 when Angela Smith’s flu-like symptoms turned into an emergency room visit at Lakewood Ranch Medical Center.
Smith, 82, was tested for COVID-19, the respiratory illness from the novel coronavirus that’s caused a global pandemic, and it came back positive two days later.
Smith, who is in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s high risk age category, said her symptoms were mild, and she’s waiting on the results from testing at the Mall at University Town Center site taken this week for the final confirmation that she no longer has COVID-19.
“I still consider myself lucky,” Smith said in a telephone interview with the Bradenton Herald. “Because I had a mild case. You look at people on TV. … Just very fortunate compared to so many other people that were hospitalized with that.”
Smith is one of almost 950 Manatee County residents who as of Friday had tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Ninety county residents have died.
Smith said she didn’t have a fever but felt a little achy and had some headaches that alarmed her enough to call her doctor.
“It’s a mystery sometimes how we get these things,” Smith said.
Active lifestyle
Before COVID-19 changed daily life for a majority of the world, Smith lived an active lifestyle. She went for walks and swam in the past.
“I would imagine being active is important,” Smith’s son Anthony said in a phone interview with the Herald.
But a real passion of hers is art.
From an early age, Smith was well-versed in creating art.
“My second-grade teacher sent home a report card,” Smith said. “She said, ‘Angela talks too much, but she’s a good little artist.’”
It’s led to working on pieces during the pandemic.
A resident in a retirement community, Smith and her husband Jim first moved to Florida roughly 30 years ago. Living in Sarasota, the couple relocated to Manatee County more than a year ago.
Jim was a paratrooper in the United States Army stationed at Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, N.C., during the 1950s, Angela said.
The two were married for more than 62 years when Jim passed away in January.
That, along with lots of close relatives passing away over the past year, her son Anthony said, caused worry when she tested positive for COVID-19.
“But I was confident that she’d be OK,” Anthony said. “But it was in the back of mind, yeah she might not make it.”
North Carolina roots
Smith and her husband both grew up in North Carolina. Angela was born and raised in Raleigh to Owen and Irene Hilliard.
Angela’s father was a talented musician, playing the piano and trombone in different styles, while her mother had a good singing voice, she said.
That creative gene found Angela at an early age when she found her love of art.
“I paint, any and all,” she said. “I do landscapes, I do people. Animals, I like to do animals. So I do all of it.”
Later, Angela and Jim opened their own jewelry store called, “Fashions By Smith,” in North Carolina.
Then retirement and relocation to Florida came.
And now Angela, who also has a daughter, Christal, is waiting for the test results after battling through mild symptoms of COVID-19.
“She never had a temperature,” Anthony said. “She never got really sick. So I was really surprised she made it OK.”
