During an appearance on U.S. television, Nick Cordero’s wife Amanda Kloots says the Broadway star may need a double lung transplant in his fight against complications from the coronavirus.
Kloots shared the latest on the Hamilton-born Cordero during a pre-taped interview on “CBS This Morning” that aired Thursday.
The 38-year-old professional fitness instructor told host Gayle King that there is a 99 per cent chance “he would be needing that.”
“In order to live the kind of life that I know my husband would want to live, that is a long road away and a lot of things would have to line up for Nick to be a candidate for that,” Kloots told King.
Kloots went on to say that Cordero’s body is “extremely weak” and that his muscles have atrophied.
“So he can’t move his body yet. He can still open his eyes. And when he is alert and awake, he’ll answer commands by looking up or down, yes or no questions,” she said.
Cordero’s wife went on to describe the three-month ordeal at an intensive care unit in Los Angeles’ Cedars-Sinai Medical Center as a “hamster wheel” in reference to the good and bad news she’s been getting weekly.
“I call it the vicious circle or the ICU dance because you just feel like you’re in this momentum of going around, around, around like a hamster wheel. And I just want to get us out of the hamster wheel,” Kloots said.
Cordero’s hospitalization started in late March when the Tony award-nominated Bullets over Broadway star was admitted to Cedars-Sinai for what initially was believed to be pneumonia. He was eventually diagnosed with COVID-19, and has since battled complications including lung infections and septic shock.
Last month, Kloots said Cordero had been receiving antibiotics with the possibility of a stem cell treatment to address damage in his lungs.
The Ohio native, who’s been updating her husband’s progress regularly on social media, said Cordero had to endure a medically-induced coma, weeks after having his right leg amputated as a result of complications from the coronavirus.
In an Instagram post on Thursday morning, Kloots said medical staff at Cedar-Sinai removed a “temporary” pacemaker in the hopes it would help with “infections that can cause blood pressure issues.”
“He hasn’t been pacing so they feel confident that this will be ok. It’s also good to remove lines and if his heart is doing ok that’s great news,” Kloots wrote in the post.