Actress, singer team up with Medical School researcher
to raise awareness of thoracic aortic disease
HOUSTON – (April 20, 2009) – Thoracic aortic aneurysm disease stole the life of actress Amy Yasbeck’s beloved husband John Ritter and nearly killed singer/radio personality Patty Peterson.
From left, Dr. Dianna Milewicz of The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, actress Amy Yasbeck, widow of actor John Ritter, and singer/radio personality Patty Peterson team together to fight thoracic aortic aneurysm disease
Photo by Deborah Mann Lake
Now it has become their common cause.
Strangers before their lives were turned upside down, the two women have formed a close bond and hope to educate others about the deadly disease with the help of genetic researcher Dianna Milewicz, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chair of the Division of Medical Genetics and President George Bush Chair In Cardiovascular Medicine at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston.
Yasbeck, whose prolific acting career includes a starring role in Wings, and Peterson, a vocalist from Minnesota’s first family of jazz, The Petersons, both talked about their personal journeys at the recent Houston Aortic Symposium. Milewicz, whose discovery of three genes related to aortic aneurysms have been published in major journals, also spoke at the event, which drew physicians from across the country.
“If you have the defective gene, you are at a high risk for an aortic dissection during your lifetime, and with some genes this risk is greater than 90 percent,” Milewicz said during a meeting with Yasbeck and Peterson. “The genetic risk for getting aortic disease if you have the defective gene is similar to the risk of getting breast cancer if you have that defective gene.”
Thoracic aortic disease is the 15th leading cause of death in the United States, killing up to 20,000 people a year. The aorta, the main blood vessel leading out of the heart, supplies blood to the rest of the body. Some people develop a progressive degeneration of the aortic wall, leading to a bulging aneurysm, or to a dissection (a tear in the wall). Thoracic aneurysms tend to be without symptoms until a catastrophic dissection or rupture occurs.
It often strikes when people are in the prime of life. Ritter was just 54 years old when he died of a dissected aortic aneurysm. Jonathan Larson, the creator of the Broadway hit “Rent,” was just 35.
Through the John Ritter Foundation for Aortic Health, Yasbeck has made it her mission to raise awareness of the disease. “I don’t want the image of this disease to be only death,” Yasbeck said during her visit to Houston. “I want it detected and repaired and for people to be able to go on with their lives. If there is any silver lining to be found in our family’s loss, it’s that John’s death has put aortic disease at the front of people’s minds.”
Once the aorta begins to dissect, patients may have anywhere from minutes to hours before it ruptures. Even if properly diagnosed in the emergency room, emergency surgery to repair the dissection is risky.
Peterson was one of the lucky ones. “Initially they began to treat it as a heart attack in the emergency room but my language was different than that of a heart attack patient,” Peterson said. “I kept telling them I felt a ‘burst’ in my chest and eventually they realized it was my aorta, not my heart. The Minneapolis Heart Institute for Abbott Northwestern Hospital had a protocol in place and because of that protocol, I was in surgery within two to three hours. They saved my life.”
If caught early enough (commonly thought to be when an aneurysm is 5 centimeters or less) a surgical procedure to repair the weak portion or replace it with a Dacron graft has a high degree of success. Some of the earliest surgical repairs in the nation occurred at the Texas Medical Center.
Yasbeck, daughter Stella, and other members of the Ritter family have already joined Milewicz’ genetic research project, which is funded by the National Institutes of Health. Peterson, who also joined the research, plans to recruit her family members including her children.
“As a parent, if you get the smallest inkling that it might be genetic, you’re all over it,” Yasbeck said. “I want people with a family history of this to be aware. We desperately need Dianna (Milewicz) and others like her to solve this riddle, not just for our family, but for everyone who might be affected.”