Catherine O'Hara remembered: Comedy icon once revealed rare medical condition

Home Alone actress Catherine O’Hara has died at the age of 71 following a brief illness, her representatives confirmed.

While the cause of death has not been disclosed, O’Hara had previously shared that she lived with a rare congenital condition known as situs inversus totalis which is a mirror-image reversal of the body’s internal organs.

Situs inversus, sometimes called cardiac inversus or dextrocardia with situs inversus, is a condition in which the heart and other vital organs are located on the opposite side of the body.

According to the National Library of Medicine, the anomaly is typically asymptomatic but can complicate medical diagnoses and treatments.

O’Hara discovered her condition decades ago during a routine tuberculosis test with her husband, production designer Bo Welch.

After repeated EKGs showed unusual results doctors ordered a chest X-ray that revealed her heart was on the right side of her chest.

“He calls us into his office and says, ‘You’re the first one I’ve met!’” O’Hara recalled in a 2021 interview.

The Beetlejuice star laughed off the revelation, “I’m a freak, yeah!”

The discovery prompted O’Hara to wonder if her siblings shared the same condition.

“I’m one of seven kids,” she said. “My parents were already gone by that time. Never heard anything about this with anyone else.”

That same day she learned her brother had undergone quadruple bypass surgery.

His heart, unlike hers, was “in the right place” on the left side.

“So he kind of scooped my story that day,” she quipped, adding with relief, “But thank god he’s okay.”

The Schitt’s Creek alum fondly remembered her husband’s reaction to the doctor’s news, “When the doctor told us that my heart was on the right side and my organs were flipped, my husband immediately said, ‘No, her head’s on backwards.’”