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In the last three weeks, K. Vitkus spent in the Birštonas sanatorium, where he was rehabilitated after a hernia operation. A doctor who never complained of serious health problems needed surgery after a time of back pain.
“It just came to our knowledge then. He operated on people all his life, still hunched over. And during the quarantine, he also actively spent time on his farm: he took care of the animals and carried firewood, and in the fall he pulled the boat and pushed the stuck car in the snow. He was really strong and athletic, but apparently he was shaking his back while working on the farm and getting worse and worse. When his legs began to go numb, the doctors found a hernia in his chest. Then he underwent emergency surgery for the Santariškė doctors, ”said the portal. People.lt V.Degutienė said it was difficult to collect words.
Microsurgeon Kęstutis Vitkus / Photo by I. Gelūnas
Vita stated that the Santariškės doctors performed a real miracle, so K. Vitkus, who spent weeks in rehabilitation in Birštonas, was eager to return home. According to V. Degutienė, there were many plans in sight of his father.
“The Santariškės doctors were very lucky to perform the operation. In three years they only had one, they really did a miracle. The day after the operation my dad started walking and now he was spending three weeks in Birštonas. He had to drive home Tuesday. We planned to go to the farm for the weekend … He had already planned the work, because the farm – animals, dogs, cats and flowers … He really missed those activities, “said the microsurgeon’s daughter.
However, K. Vitkus did not manage to return to the farm, where he had endless plans. “It just came to our attention then. We believe that the cause of his death could be a heart attack or a blood clot. I cannot understand a very sudden and unexpected death,” said V. Degutienė enthusiastically.
Kęstutis Vitkus and Vita Degutienė / Greta Skaraitienė / Photo from Laima magazine
V.Degutienė said he had a close relationship with his father. While Vitit was spending days in Birštonas, they called every day. Kęstutis did not mention any health problems to his daughter; according to Vita, she could talk to her father for hours about life.
“My dad loved life very much. We made a video call every day because he couldn’t be around during the coronavirus pandemic. We talked for hours and hours and discussed everything from jobs, politics, grandchildren, animals to blooming flowers. He filmed flowers that are always blooming, birds that are being fed, nature that is awakening … I was extremely happy with every moment ”. she said.
According to V. Degutienė, the family already plans to say goodbye to K. Vitkus. The body of a famous surgeon promises to be cremated.
„We are already thinking of saying goodbye. The ceremony must be in kthat week to the priest Ričardas Doveikas in the new church, and then, accompanied by relatives, we took him home, to the chapel, where his mother and brother are buried. An investigation is now underway to determine the cause of death. Everything takes time ”, said the director of VitkusClinic.
Microsurgeon Kęstutis Vitkus / Photo by Butauto Barauskas
News of the death of 68-year-old surgeon Kęstutis Vitkus came on the morning of April 19.
Kęstutis Vitkus was a well-known Lithuanian surgeon and professor. Since 1982 he worked as a doctor in plastic and reconstructive surgery at the Vilnius University Hospital at Clinicas Santara. Since 1985 he taught at Vilnius University, led training courses for doctors.
The BNS news agency recalls that Kęstutis Vitkus and his father Mečislovas Vitkus performed the first microsurgery operation in Lithuania and in the then Soviet Union, successfully replanting severed fingers. He was the first to transplant patches of bone, bone fascia, nerves, and joints with blood vessels.
K. Vitkus introduced microsurgical methods in orthopedics, trauma, oncology, and plastic surgery.
K. Vitkus also worked as a sports medicine physician in Portland, Oregon (USA) for some time, and in 1992-1993. He became a physician at the Springfield Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Clinic, Southern Illinois University, USA Since 2004 Kęstutis Vitkus worked as a surgeon at the Valkusupiai VitkusClinic Plastic Surgery Clinic.
2013-2019 became the director of the Center for Reconstructive Plastic Surgery of the Santara Clinics of the Vilnius University Hospital.
Photo by Kęstutis Vitkus / Aleksandras Brokas (Bridge of Culture) and Julius Žalnierukynas.
Strong relationship with wife
Kęstutis Vitkus suffered a painful loss in 2018: his wife, underwear and clothing designer Daiva Vitkienė-Reimerytė, died. The couple have been together for more than 40 years.
After Lithuania regained its independence, D. Vitkienė-Reimerytė created the largest haute couture festival of that time, In Vogue Vilnius. The woman was also known for her active charitable activities: she supported large families.
Together they raised two children: a son Jonas Vitkus and a daughter Vitas Vitkutė-Degutienė. Vita Degutienė runs the VitkusClinic clinic. Unfortunately, thirteen years ago, Vitkai’s son died of cardiac arrest. He was only 28 years old.
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