Santa asked emergency surgeons not to cut his beard

“He told me before we operated, 'Please don't cut my beard’”
Dennis Vaughan was diagnosed with acute aortic dissection
He was reunited with the team and life flight crew who saved his life

Updated: Dec 26, 2023 / 04:28 PM CST

Dennis Vaughan and medical team | Credit: Memorial Hermann

(NewsNation) — Santa Claus reportedly made a special delivery of cookies to a group of emergency surgeons at Texas Medical Center who operated on him earlier this year.

Decked out and dressed as Santa, Dennis Vaughan, 74, reunited with the team and life flight crew who saved his life in September.

“I wanted to say thank you to everybody,” he told PEOPLE.

Over the summer, Vaughan was diagnosed with acute aortic dissection, which is often deadly.

PEOPLE reported that prior to the emergency open-heart surgery, Vaughan asked the surgeons for one thing: Don’t cut the beard off.

“He told me before we operated, ‘Please don’t cut my beard,” the surgeon, Anthony Estrera, told PEOPLE.

Vaughan, a retired welder, and his wife Linda Vaughan reportedly dress up as Mr. and Mrs. Claus every year and deliver Santa-grams to homes, churches, day cares and hospitals. Vaughan told PEOPLE he’s taking this year off to recover from the surgery.