Celebrity News May 12, 2020
Actor Nick Cordero Wakes from Medically Induced Coma After Battling COVID-19 for Weeks
Nick Cordero is awake and following commands after being placed in a medically induced coma amid his battle with COVID-19.
His wife Amanda Kloots posted the happy news on Instagram, but added that he is still in the early stages and remains “extremely weak.”
"Extra's" Renee Bargh spoke with Amanda after the announcement, and Kloots was overjoyed. “Isn't it the best news ever? It was such a good day.”
Sharing his progress, she confirmed his eyes had been open, but now they are tracking. “Yes, so early signs of being awake are exactly that, tracking. So when we ask him a question, if it's a yes, he looks up, if it's a no, he looks down. He's doing that regularly.”
She continued, “Then, as he gets stronger, he'll be able to do more things, but he's just so weak right now… Just the act of looking up or down or opening his eyes on command exhausts him.”
Nick was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in L.A in late March, and Amanda said, “The doctor told me yesterday, 'Amanda, not too many people wake up after four weeks.' He said this is a great day.”
Kloots is unable to visit him, but she is staying positive even after his leg amputation. “The nurse said to me yesterday, 'We're not pushing him out of the hospital…he's walking out of this hospital'…and I'm like, 'OK, that's right, I like that!'”
As for next steps, she explained, “I think just to continually get stronger, which I think will help with more days like yesterday where he's just stable in the ICU… And every day that he keeps practicing these movements, he'll just keep getting stronger and then we'll build on that.”
Amanda told Renee the first thing she is going to say to her husband, revealing, “I think I'm just going to reiterate that he did it. 'You did this, you got through this, you fought and you're strong and we're going to do this together'…When he realizes what he's overcame, I think he will find this inner strength that will beat all odds.”
In her previous Instagram post, Amanda held their son Elvis, 11 months, as she told fans, “Nick, Dada, is awake! Yay! Dada is awake.”
She went on, “I asked the doctor today: 'Can we say he is awake?' He is awake,'” she said, adding, “It's just that Nick is so weak right now that even opening his eyes and closing his eyes takes all his energy. Dada did it!”
In a written post, she further explained, “Nick is awake! He is extremely weak, so weak that he can't close his mouth. But he is following commands which means his mental status is coming back this is a long road, a very long road.”
In another Instagram Stories video, she noted that part of his recovery will include physical therapy to help get him stronger. The Tony-nominated Broadway star had his right leg amputated after suffering complications from COVID-19.
Kloots gushed, “But he is a true superhero. I mean, we have just come such a far, far way. He's in there and everything is looking good.”
She went on, “It's like you don't want to get yourself too excited because it's been such a road. But that's why I say it's a very long road still. We are still in a very long road, but we are the beginnings of recovery. We are the beginnings of him waking up and the beginning of him following even more commands and being able to do more things.”
Amanda called it a “miracle,” adding, “Our guy is coming back. He is coming back. It's just so great. It's a great day.”
Nick first started to show signs of waking up on Mother's Day during a FaceTime call with Amanda. “I asked him to look up, and he did, and I asked him to look down, and he did,” she said on Sunday. “So that was a fantastic Mother's Day gift to start my day off with.”
Cordero has faced many setbacks following his coronavirus diagnosis. Amanda previously noted he had to be resuscitated after an infection stopped his heart. He also suffered two mini-strokes, septic shock, fungus in his lungs, blood clots, the leg amputation, and more.
Recently, his good friend Zach Braff opened up to “Extra” about Nick's battle with COVID-19. Watch.