Broadway star Nick Cordero has leg amputated in COVID-19 fight
Broadway star Nick Cordero had his right leg amputated as he continues his fight against COVID-19, according to his wife, celebrity fitness trainer Amanda Kloots.
Blood thinners used to help with clotting in Cordero's leg were causing issues with his blood pressure and causing internal bleeding, so doctors made the decision to amputate his leg, Kloots explained in a series of Instagram posts to her more than 135,000 followers.
"I just heard from the doctor, he's doing good," Kloots said on Instagram. "For Nick, he is doing the best he possibly can, which is a huge hallelujah."
Cordero, 41, a Tony-nominated actor, initially went to the hospital in late March with what they thought was pneumonia, according to Kloots. He later tested positive for COVID-19 and was put in a medically induced coma to help his breathing.
The former star of Broadway hits including "The Waitress" and "Bullets Over Broadway," has been sedated and in the ICU since April 1.
Cordero, Kloots and their 10-month-old son Elvis recently moved from New York City to Los Angeles so Cordero could star in a production there of "Rock Of Ages," which he also starred in on Broadway. Kloots has not been able to see her husband since he went in the hospital because of restrictions put in place to help slow the spread of COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus.
"Once he went under, we didn't have any communication at all," Kloots told "Good Morning America" last week. "I've been talking to the nurses and doctor and they've been wonderful."
"I'm trying to understand everything from afar," she said. "It's awkward when you're sitting and waiting and you don't know what's going on and you can't be there and everything is happening so fast."
A crowdfunding account recently set up by friends to help Kloots and Cordero cover medical bills and make their new home wheelchair-accessible has raised over $300,000.
Friends, family and strangers around the world are also helping support Cordero by doing two things that he loves, singing and dancing.
When Kloots got to FaceTime with her husband last week, via a nurse, she sang and played for him Elvis Presley’s "Got A Lot O’ Livin’ To Do," which she said made Cordero's blood pressure rise.
Kloots asked her followers to sing and dance to the song themselves every day at 6 p.m. EST/3 p.m. PST, to support Cordero.
The daily dance and singalongs are now set to Cordero's own song, "Live Your Life," which SiriusXM radio is now also playing nightly at 6 p.m. EST, according to Kloots.
"He is hearing us!!!," Kloots wrote on Instagram over the weekend, after learning Cordero made it safely out of his amputation surgery. "He is hearing the support, the love and your voices everyday. I just know it."
The COVID-19 illness virtually sneaked up on Cordero, who first just experienced fatigue, according to Kloots.
"We were watching the news and we were trying to decide if this was the coronavirus," she said. "It didn't seem like Nick had the symptoms. He just had this extreme fatigue. We just thought we'd ride it out. We'd see what happened [and[ just isolate because all he wanted to do was sleep."
"The tipping point happened one morning. We were eating breakfast and I asked Nick to go change Elvis' diaper and I heard a huge thump," she said. "I ran into the bedroom and he had fainted."
In addition to seeing Cordero via FaceTime, Kloots said she sends her husband a daily home video so that a nurse can show it to him when he wakes up each morning.
"If I can tell Nick anything, it's that we love him and it's going to be okay," said Kloots. "And that Elvis and I are okay and that we are healthy and we are waiting for him and he just needs to get better ... and he's got a whole lot of living to do."
What to know about coronavirus:
- How it started and how to protect yourself: coronavirus explained
- What to do if you have symptoms: coronavirus symptoms
- Tracking the spread in the US and Worldwide: coronavirus map
