Broadway star Nick Cordero, who battled COVID-19 and its complications for three months, has died, his wife, fitness trainer Amanda Kloots, announced Sunday on Instagram.
Cordero, 41, had been on a ventilator in a Los Angeles hospital since early April and in that time, sustained several lung infections and required a leg amputation.
Kloots said Cordero "gently left this earth" this morning and was "surrounded in love by his family, singing and praying."
"I am in disbelief and hurting everywhere," Kloots wrote on Instagram. "My heart is broken as I cannot imagine our lives without him. Nick was such a bright light. He was everyone's friend, loved to listen, help and especially talk."
"He was an incredible actor and musician. He loved his family and loved being a father and husband," she added. "Elvis and I will miss him in everything we do, everyday."
I will love you forever and always my sweet man.
Cordero, who was born in Hamilton, Ontario, made his Broadway debut in 2012, appearing as club owner Dennis in "Rock of Ages." Just two years later, he earned a Tony nomination for his work in Woody Allen's musical, "Bullets Over Broadway," before going on to appear in "Waitress" and "A Bronx Tale: The Musical."
"Getting a Tony nomination has been a gorgeous whirlwind," Cordero told Broadway.com at the time. "It’s been so humbling and exciting and emotional. I’ve worked for this my whole life, and I can’t believe it’s finally happening.”
But working on "Bullets Over Broadway" wasn't just a career highlight -- it was also how the actor, who appeared in episodes of "Blue Bloods" and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," met Kloots. They married in Manhattan in 2017 and welcomed their son, Elvis, in June, 2019. A few months after the birth, their family relocated from New York City to Los Angeles so that Cordero could appear in a West Coast production of "Rock of Ages."
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On March 30, Cordero went to the emergency room for what he thought was pneumonia. He was admitted to the hospital and later tested positive for COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus. To help his breathing, doctors put the actor into a medically-induced coma.
"He didn't have a fever. He didn't have a cough. He had a sense of smell, he had a sense of taste, so we really didn't think it was COVID, especially [with] his no preexisting conditions," Kloots told "Good Morning America" in May. "Very shortly, after about only two days, he was on a ventilator."
In April, doctors amputated Cordero's right leg after blood thinners used to help with clotting caused other problems, Kloots said. She also said that his lungs were "severely damaged" by the virus, and during his time in the hospital, he battled multiple infections. Still, she never gave up hope, encouraging her Instagram followers to sing his song, "Live Your Life" at 3 p.m. PT in honor of her husband.
"Nick has literally defied odds and I think there's something to that. You don't go through all of this to not make it through all of this," she said in late May. "I think about how tired and exhausted he must be, and it helps me to be like, 'OK, if he can do it, I can do this.' I can keep fighting. I can keep hoping. I can keep cheering him on. I can keep singing."
Editor's Note: This story has been corrected to show that Cordero went to the emergency room on March 30, not March 31.
