Texas man back in Santa suit after heart surgery
Dennis Vaughan made one request as doctors rushed him into surgery to repair a life-threatening tear in his aorta: He asked them to try to avoid cutting his beard.
Vaughan, 74, has been playing Santa alongside his wife, Linda, who plays Mrs. Claus, at Christmas parties and charity events for the past four years. But doctors needed the long, white beard out of the way for the open-heart surgery he needed to repair an aortic dissection.
Dr. Anthony Estrera, a cardiothoracic surgeon at UTHealth Houston and Memorial Hermann, managed to preserve the beard by tying it with a rubber band to keep it out of the way. The surgery, which took place Sept. 8, was a success.
Vaughan ended up cutting the beard anyway after he realized he’d need to take a year off from playing Santa as he recovered from the life-saving surgery. But he still got his chance to dress up as Father Christmas at least once.
Five days before Christmas, Vaughan donned his red and white suit to reunite with Estrera and the members of the Life Flight crew who had flown him from a Beaumont hospital to Memorial Hermann three months earlier. His eyes filled with tears as he thanked them for saving his life.
“They gave my life back to Vaughan said. “I’m very grateful.”
Aortic dissection is relatively uncommon; it usually occurs in men over 60 years old. But when it does, it’s immediately life-threatening. The condition caused the death of actor John Ritter in 2003.
The aorta is responsible for delivering blood from the heart to the rest of the body and has three layers. A tear in the inner layer allows blood to rush through, causing separation between the inner and middle layers. Other parts of the body might be damaged as well because they’re not getting enough blood.
Approximately 40% of patients will die immediately if the tear results in a complete rupture of the aorta, according to the Cleveland Clinic. For other patients, the risk of death can increase 1% to 3% per hour until they get treatment.
“If you don’t treat those immediately, most of those patients are going to pass away in 48 to 72 hours,” Estrera said.
Vaughan credits his survival to quick thinking by his family and health care workers at the two hospitals. His cardiologist, Dr. Allen McGrew, recognized Vaughan had an aortic dissection shortly after his family rushed him to Baptist Hospitals of Southeast Texas in Beaumont. McGrew called Estrera, who arranged the Life Flight and performed the surgery that saved Vaughan’s life.
The ordeal was frightening for the whole Vaughan family. Linda Vaughan remembers Estrera coming out of the operating room to tell her that her husband was going to be all right — and how lucky he was to be alive.
“He said, ‘He’s a very lucky man,’ ” Linda Vaughan said. “Another 30 minutes me,” and he wouldn’t have made it.’
‘You have to face the reality’
The Vaughans have been married 52 years and live in the small city of Vidor in Southeast Texas. They actually debuted the Mr. and Mrs. Claus costumes at a Halloween event at their church.
Over the past four years, they’ve appeared at church functions, businesses, day cares and charity events. They also took to Facebook to offer “Santagrams” – or house calls to visit children in the Beaumont area – with their daughter Tisha Buesing as their chauffeur.
“It’s so exciting to see the kids’ faces and have them crawl up on his lap and sit on his knee and tell him what they want for Christmas,” Linda Vaughan said.
Dennis Vaughan already was recovering from a broken hip when the aortic dissection occurred Sept. 8.
He was headed out to the car to go to a doctor’s appointment when he suddenly lost consciousness. His wife found him hunched over in the wheelchair he’d been using since his hip surgery.
She called out to her grandson Garrett Buesing, who was mowing the lawn, and asked him to call the rest of the family as she called 911.
The symptoms of an aortic dissection, which include sudden chest pain, shortness of breath and dizziness, might be similar to a heart attack or stroke. But identifying an aortic dissection as soon as possible is critical for patients to survive, Estrera said.
In the years since Ritter’s death, the John Ritter Foundation for Aortic Health has raised awareness of aortic health and created “Ritter’s Rules” to help recognize and treat the condition.
Fortunately, McGrew identified the problem approximately 90 minutes after the Vaughans arrived at the Beaumont hospital. He told the family that Dennis Vaughan needed to be flown to Houston for surgery.
“They said, ‘This is serious. You have to face the reality that he might not even make it,’ ” Tisha Buesing said.
Dennis Vaughan doesn’t remember much of the ordeal, but he does remember being in the helicopter.
“I raised up about three times during the flight to see where it was at,” he said. “Then I laid back down.”
‘Everything worked out perfectly’
Though aortic dissections happen abruptly, they’re caused by a gradual breakdown of the cells that make up the inner layer of the aorta. That breakdown happens over many years, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
Estrera estimated that 20% of aortic dissections are related to genetics; surgeons can preemptively repair and replace the aorta in patients who are predisposed to a tear. Other risk factors include high blood pressure and smoking, Estrera said.
The aorta is shaped a bit like a candy cane. The most common – and most dangerous – type of tear occurs in the curved portion that is closest to the heart. That’s where Vaughan’s tear was.
The surgical team cut out the damaged part of Vaughan’s aorta and replaced it with a graft made of synthetic polyester; Estrera compared it to a plumber replacing a damaged pipe. They also drained the blood that had leaked through the tear. The surgery typically takes three to five hours, Estrera said.
“Everything worked out perfectly,” Estrera said. “Any misstep, and he would be dead right now.”
Vaughan stayed in the hospital for about two weeks. He’s still recovering and lost about 60 pounds during the ordeal, but he said he’s feeling better. Estrera said it takes most patients six to eight weeks to fully recover.
He’s looking forward to regrowing his beard and donning the red and white suit again next Christmas.
“I want to be healthy for next year,” he said. “I want to be good and strong.”