John Ritter passed away tragically on his daughter’s birthday.
John’s wife, Amy Yasbeck, is on a mission to ensure no one dies the way her late husband did.
Twenty years after John’s death, Amy still misses him and hasn’t dated anyone since her husband died.
John Ritter was a husband, father, and American actor. He was born on September 17, 1948, in Burbank, California. John and his wife, Amy Yasbeck, got married on September 18, 1999. They share one child, a daughter, Stella Ritter, who transitioned on her 18th birthday in 2016. She boldly decided to change her gender to male and now goes by Noah Lee Ritter.
John was previously married to his first wife, Nancy Morgan, whom he shares three kids with: Jason Ritter, Tyler Ritter, and Carly Ritter. He died on September 11, 2003, leaving behind his wife, four kids, and ex-wife.
The actor, whose acting career flourished for over three decades, died of undetected aortic dissection. Just before his death, John was on the set for rehearsals of “8 Simple Rules.”
On that same day, John’s child with Amy, Stella, was celebrating her fifth birthday. While on set, John experienced severe nausea and vomiting and was rushed to Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, California.
Amy was at the hospital with him, and she recalled that her late husband felt bad he was “ruining Stella’s birthday” with his illness. The actor smiled at his wife, and Amy noted that she said “I love you” to him.
Amy and John had learned to say ‘I love you’ in American Sign Language, which they used to sign to each other when they were on stage. So, after Amy told her late husband she loved him, he signed it back and held the sign as he went around the corner. This became the last time the actress saw John alive. The next time she saw him, he was dead.
John, 54, was pronounced dead at 10:48 p.m. to the shock of his family, friends, and the Hollywood community. Amy recalled feeling everything was going wrong prior. She said she heard someone say code blue and a crash cart being rushed and wondered what was happening. A doctor then told the actress that John had an aortic dissection, a term she had never heard of.
An aortic dissection, as per the American Health Association, occurs when pressure on the artery wall due to blood flow spikes. The pressure causes the inner layer of the aorta to split open. Cardiologist Joseph Lee, who treated John before his death, thought his test results were showing abnormalities related to a heart attack.
Amy said she wasn’t in the mood to date and that dating would just make her miss her late husband more.
Medical documents show that Joseph ordered anticoagulants and was about to conduct a cardiac catheterization, but John’s condition took a turn for the worse. That’s when doctors found the aortic dissection, a tear in the biggest blood vessel in the human body. This tear, which causes the death of 50 percent of patients before they reach the hospital, also led to John’s death.
