Amy Yasbeck says family screening after John Ritter’s death helped save his older brother, Tom. Doctors discovered an aneurysm in his ascending aorta roughly four years later, in the same area affected by the condition that killed the actor.
“He had his aortic arch replaced,” Yasbeck told PEOPLE. The discovery came through an echocardiogram, an ultrasound examination that can show the heart and nearby portions of the aorta, giving doctors an opportunity to intervene.
John, who starred in Three’s Company and 8 Simple Rules, died on September 11, 2003, at 54. He suffered a thoracic aortic dissection that was initially mistaken for a heart attack.
Yasbeck, 64, spoke at the November 2 Evening From the Heart benefit in New York City, ahead of the sitcom’s 50th anniversary on March 15, 2027. Her remarks appeared in an interview published the following day.
A Geneticist Helped the Ritters Understand Their Family History
In a separate conversation with PEOPLE at the event, Yasbeck credited Dr. Dianna Milewicz, a specialist in inherited aortic disease, with explaining the risks to John’s relatives. She recalled the geneticist advising the family to arrange echocardiograms and maintain regular monitoring rather than treat screening as a single appointment.
Tom’s diagnosis was already part of Yasbeck’s advocacy when she spoke to Smashing Interviews Magazine in April 2011 while promoting her memoir, With Love and Laughter, John Ritter. “It’s a blessing to know,” she said of recognizing an inherited risk that doctors could investigate.
Those conversations also changed how she viewed the death of John’s father, singer and actor Tex Ritter. He died suddenly in 1974 from what was understood to be a heart attack. Yasbeck suspects he may instead have suffered an aortic dissection, a possibility she discussed in both interviews, but neither account presented medical evidence confirming that diagnosis.
She also questioned how often deaths described broadly as cardiac events might have concealed an unidentified aortic problem. Her concern was that, without a more precise explanation, surviving relatives might never learn there was a reason to investigate their own health.
What Medical Guidelines Recommend for Close Relatives
An aneurysm and a dissection are different conditions. An aneurysm is an abnormal enlargement of an artery; a dissection occurs when a tear allows blood to enter and separate layers of the artery’s wall. The aorta is the main artery carrying blood from the heart to the body.
The 2022 guidelines from the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association recommend aortic imaging for first-degree relatives of patients with aneurysms of the aortic root or ascending aorta, or an aortic dissection. Those relatives include parents, siblings and children. The recommendation can apply even when testing has not identified a disease-causing genetic variant.
The John Ritter Foundation lists echocardiograms, CT angiograms and magnetic resonance angiograms among the imaging methods used for screening. When an echocardiogram cannot adequately show the ascending aorta, another type of scan may be necessary.
Finding an aneurysm does not automatically mean surgery. Doctors determine follow-up and treatment using factors such as its size, growth rate and the patient’s individual risks. Care can involve surveillance imaging and medication, with surgery recommended when the risk warrants intervention.
A New Cast Revisited the Three’s Company Pilot
At Joe’s Pub, Yasbeck and Joyce DeWitt, who played Janet Wood in the original series, co-hosted a live reading of the pilot episode. Jason Biggs took on John’s role as Jack Tripper, with Christine Taylor as Chrissy Snow and Bellamy Young as Janet.
Richard Kind and Susie Essman played Stanley and Helen Roper. Richard Kline, the sitcom’s Larry Dallas, narrated and explained his reason for participating to PEOPLE: “But I’m mainly excited to support this foundation, which is so incredibly important.”
The benefit’s co-chairs were Alex Bussenger and Donald Schwartz, both aortic dissection survivors and members of the foundation’s board. The event launched a four-city anniversary tour also scheduled to visit Dallas, Cleveland and Los Angeles.
Yasbeck’s Foundation Funds Research and Supports Families
Yasbeck established the nonprofit within weeks of losing her husband. Since 2010, it has provided funding and support for the John Ritter Research Program, an independent project at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston directed by Milewicz.
The organization’s work also includes Aorta Academy, a library of educational resources, and Aorta Advocates, a program offering peer support and help navigating resources. Yasbeck told PEOPLE that attendees regularly approach her after foundation events to share their own experiences with aortic disease.
According to the foundation, more than 1,500 families have enrolled in the research program. Its work includes identifying inherited risk factors, collecting information about symptoms and improving clinical care and quality of life.