Broadway actor may never walk again after coronavirus hospitalization, wife says
The wife of Broadway actor Nick Cordero said his battle with coronavirus may leave him unable to walk again.
The 41-year-old "Waitress" actor's wife, Amanda Kloots, said on Instagram Thursday that his right leg was having blood flow issues. Doctors performed a procedure to get blood flowing to his toes, but they "don't know what the damage will be."
“We don’t know if he’ll be able to walk again,” she said on Instagram stories. “We don’t know if he can walk again what that will look like.”
Cordero, who also appeared on TV's "Blue Bloods" and in a Los Angeles production of the stage musical "Rock of Ages," was recently diagnosed with COVID-19 and is in intensive care at L.A.'s Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
In her message Thursday, Kloots also said that a surgery had gone well, and doctors were able to take Cordero off an ECMO machine, which oxygenates blood in place of the heart and lungs.
“The doctor said for Nick’s heart and lungs right now they’re in the best condition that they could be,” she explained in a video. “The fact that he’s off (the ECMO machine) is great.”
Kloots revealed her husband was sick on April 1. In an Instagram post, she said he had been “misdiagnosed” with pneumonia instead of COVID-19. According to Buzzfeed, she said Cordero later tested positive for COVID-19 after two negative tests.
Throughout the ordeal, Kloots has been trying to stay positive with the help of her online community, regularly reposting videos of friends and fans singing and dancing while calling out or writing the message, “Wake up, Nick!”
She said music has been helping her through this time.
The two share a 10-month-old son, Elvis. Kloots said she recently played an Elvis Presley song, "Got a Lot o' Livin' to Do," for her husband over FaceTime with help from a nurse.
"The nurse leaned over while it was playing and said “His blood pressure just got better!” Kloots said.
She added on Thursday the cast from "Rock of Ages" has been helping by babysitting her son so she could have a moment to herself.
"I’m exhausted and so tired. And we are doing our best over here to hold down the fort," she said. "We got good news today ... and I want to celebrate, so I’m going to go dance."