Nick Cordero, seen here in January at a premier in Hollywood, has emerged from his coma during a difficult fight with COVID-19, according to his wife. Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for Rock of Ages hide caption
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Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for Rock of Ages
Happy stories have been hard to come by during the coronavirus pandemic — particularly on Broadway, which shuttered stages two months ago and won’t reopen until Labor Day, at the earliest. Wednesday, however, brought a rare, bright exception to the parade of grim tidings.
Broadway actor Nick Cordero has awakened from a weeks-long coma that was part of his desperate fight with COVID-19, according to his wife. Amanda Kloots announced the news Tuesday on Instagram, with their baby in her arms.
“Nick, dada, is awake!” she said, beaming with excitement. “Finally confirmed after two days of, ‘Is he doing this?’ You get so excited, the nurses are like, ‘We think this is happening.’ The doctor confirmed today that, ‘Yep, I think Nick is awake.’ And I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ “
Cordero’s story is not without its darkness, however.
The Tony-nominated performer — perhaps best known for his roles in Bullets Over Broadway and A Bronx Tale — fell ill with the respiratory disease earlier this year and spent time on a respirator at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where he had been acting in a production of Rock of Ages. Cordero, 41, was placed in a medically induced coma on April 1, his wife said, and later had his leg amputated due to the development of a dangerous blood clot.
What’s more, Kloots explained late last month on Instagram, “we did learn that due to COVID, Nick’s lungs are severely damaged — to look almost like he’s been a smoker for 50 years, they said.”
Still, the latest twist in Cordero’s story offers reason for hope.
“It’s just been this heaviness that’s kind of held over us for this time,” Kloots told ABC’s Good Morning America. “The doctor said, ‘I think we can officially say he is awake’ — and, I mean, that was just the best news you could hear.”
