Heather Dubrow, 54, is a life-saver according to her husband, Terry Dubrow, 64! The Real Housewives of Orange County stars confirmed to TMZ on Aug. 9 that the famed plastic surgeon suffered a mini-stroke just one week prior. Terry was out to dinner at The Ivy in Los Angeles with his wife and their son, Nicholas, 19, at the time of the incident. After the 64-year-old slurred his speech for “less than a minute,” Heather insisted that their son call 911 immediately.
After the paramedics arrived at the restaurant, which reportedly upset Terry as he felt “fine,” his vitals appeared to be normal. The Botched star‘s wife was not convinced and encouraged Terry to head to the doctor’s to confirm that he was indeed okay. Tests done at a nearby hospital confirmed that Terry had suffered from a transient ischemic attack (TIA). A TIA is “a stroke that lasts only a few minutes. It occurs when the blood supply to part of the brain is briefly interrupted,” according to the official NIH website.
Additionally, the doctors discovered that Terry had a patent foramen ovale (PFO), which is a hole in the heart. The proud father-of-four was informed that, “a blood clot passed through the PFO, traveled to his brain and caused the TIA,” per E! News. Now, Terry is “fully recovered” and opened up about the experience during a candid conversation with E! News on Aug. 9. “I learned many things from this terrifying experience,” he told the outlet.
“One: If you or anyone around you shows possible signs of a stroke time is critical, you have five hours to get to a hospital to save your life. Two: If you have traveled recently, make sure you move frequently to keep blood flowing to prevent clots,” Terry continued. “Three: PFO is more common (20-30%) than people realize and TIAs and strokes can occur in anyone at any age.” Heather’s husband of nearly 25 years went on to thank her for saving his life.
“Listen to your partner. If they are concerned about something don’t argue, don’t ignore and get it checked out right away. What they see may be very different than what you perceive,” he told the online mag. “Be grateful for those who love you. I love my wife, thank god for Heather and her persistence and insistence. She truly saved my life.” The brunette beauty, who currently stars on Season 17 of RHOC, took to Instagram hours later to share a photo with Terry and echoed his same sentiment in the caption.
“I love this man with my whole heart. I’m beyond grateful that Terry’s ok, this could have gone very differently. If you see someone having stroke like symptoms- get them to the Hospital. You have 5 hours to get them treatment,” she wrote in the caption. “I wanted to say a HUGE thank you to the doctors, nurses and techs at Hoag Hospital and everyone involved who helped us during this very scary time. Thank you for your kind messages, Terry and I are overwhelmed by your love and support.”
Many of their friends and co-stars of the Bravo series took to the comments to send well wishes to the couple. “So happy Terrys okay so scary !”, Tamra Judge penned, while Gina Kirschenheiter added, “Love you guys! So happy he’s ok!” Gretchen Rossi, who starred on the series years ago also chimed in to send Terry a sweet note. “Omg babe, so scary,” she penned, along with prayer hand emojis. Additionally, Taylor Armstrong added, “So glad to hear he’s okay. He’s very lucky to have you by his side.”