Broadway star Nick Cordero has had his right leg amputated due to complications from coronavirus, according to an Instagram post from his wife Amanda Kloots. As of Saturday, the Tony-nominated performer had been sedated in the ICU for 18 days.
"We got some difficult news yesterday," Kloots said on her Instagram Stories on Saturday. "Basically, we've had issues in his right leg, with clotting and getting blood down to his toes. And it just isn't happening with surgery and everything." She explained the star was on blood thinners for the clotting, but as it caused "other issues," he was taken off the medicine.
"So, we took him off the blood thinners, but that, again, was going to cause some clotting in the right leg," Kloots said. "So, the right leg will be amputated today."
Kloots, a former Broadway dancer, now celebrity trainer, provided another update on Instagram Saturday night. "He made it through the surgery, which is really big because obviously his body is pretty weak," she said. "Good news."
Kloots wrote on April 1 on Instagram that her husband, with whom she shares a 10-month old son named Elvis, was sick. The couple was told Cordero had pneumonia at the end of March, but Kloots explained he was tested for COVID-19, as it was believed he was misdiagnosed. Since then she has been posting regular updates about her husband on the platform, encouraging her followers to sing and dance for him each afternoon using the hashtag #wakeupnick.
He is currently being treated at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, according to CBS Los Angeles.
Friends of the couple recently started a GoFundMe page to help raise money for hospital bills, which has already amassed more than $292,000 of its original $250,000 goal. Kloots wrote that she was "blown away" by the donations, adding that the donations will also go toward paying for "the best rehab" and to make their home wheelchair accessible.
The couple recently moved from New York City to Los Angeles so Cordero could perform in the musical "Rock of Ages," according to the GoFundMe page. Cordero starred in the musical adaptation of Woody Allen's film "Bullets Over Broadway" in 2014, which earned him a Tony nomination. He has also appeared previously on Broadway in "Rock of Ages," as well as "Waitress" and "A Bronx Tale the Musical."
Source: CBS News