Broadway actor Nick Cordero will likely need a double lung transplant as he continues to recover from the coronavirus, his wife recently explained.
Cordero, 41, has been hospitalized in Los Angeles since late March and has already had his leg amputated due to complications from COVID-19. The Tony-nominated actor is now COVID-negative and no longer in a coma.
But the coronavirus has caused a lot of damage.
Amanda Kloots, Cordero's wife, told CBS This Morning that he is still considered critically ill and the "ultimate goal" would be for him to get a double lung transplant, but "a lot of things would have to line up" for him to be a candidate.
"Nick's body is extremely weak. Muscles have atrophied, so he can't move his body yet," Kloots told Gayle King on CBS This Morning. " 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. When I'm asking him, he will even try to smile or move his jaw. The nurses have all said that he answers my questions the best."
Describing the situation, Kloots called it "the vicious circle or the ICU dance."
"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 has appeared in a number of Broadway shows including a role in the 2014 adaptation of Woody Allen's 1994 film “Bullets Over Broadway," for which he received a Tony nomination for best featured actor in a musical. He has also starred in “Rock of Ages” and "A Bronx Tale."
On the small screen, Cordero appeared in several episodes of “Blue Bloods” and “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” as well as “Lilyhammer” and he had a role in the film “Going in Style.”
His wife explained to Gayle King that there's a 99% chance Cordero would need the double lung transplant "in order to live the kind of life that I know my husband would want to live."
On their podcast "Fake Doctors, Real Friends," Scrubs co-stars Zach Braff and Donald Faison said Cordero contracted the virus when he traveled back to New York to pack up his apartment after he and his wife bought a house in Los Angeles.
"They were just living the American dream. They literally bought their first house that he went back to New York to pack up his apartment and got COVID so bad. He's staying alive, with the help of machines," Braff said on the podcast.
He added that doctors say Cordero's lungs are like "swiss cheese."
Kloots has been providing updates on Cordero's recovery to her Instagram. Late Thursday night, she announced that they removed a temporary pacemaker.
"He hasn't been pacing so they feel confident that this will be ok. I't also good to remove lines and if his heart is doing ok that's great news, Kloots posted in an Instagram story. "Hoping and praying it helps."
Kloots has also been sharing pictures of the couple and their one-year-old son Elvis providing updates and thanking healthcare workers for their work in helping her husband.
"They told me four times that he won't survive. Sometimes even he won't survive through the night, but he has," Kloots recounted to King. "He's fighting. I see it every day. Nick's doctor sees it. And as long as he's in there and fighting, I'll continue to fight with him."
Erin Patterson contributed to this report.
