Broadway actor Nick Cordero has died from coronavirus complications after a battle with the virus that lasted more than 90 days and included an amputated leg and seven weeks in a medically-induced coma. He was 41 years old.
Cordero, who was nominated for a Tony Award in 2014 for his performance in “Bullets Over Broadway,” died on Sunday morning, his wife Amanda Kloots wrote on Instagram. He was hospitalised for months at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where he was performing in “Rock of Ages” before falling ill in March.
“God has another angel in heaven now,” Kloots wrote Sunday evening. “My darling husband passed away this morning. He was surrounded in love by his family, singing and praying as he gently left this earth.”
“I am in disbelief and hurting everywhere. My heart is broken as I cannot imagine our lives without him. Nick was such a bright light. He was everyone’s friend, loved to listen, help and especially talk. He was an incredible actor and musician. He loved his family and loved being a father and husband. Elvis and I will miss him in everything we do, everyday,” she continued.
Cordero’s son Elvis Eduardo is 1 year old.
Kloots, a former Radio City Rockette, thanked Cordero’s “extraordinary doctor” Dr. David Ng, whom she said was “kind, compassionate, assertive and always eager to listen to my crazy ideas or call yet another doctor for me for a second opinion.”
She also thanked all those who contributed to the “outpour of love, support and help we’ve received these last 95 days.”
“You have no idea how much you lifted my spirits at 3pm everyday as the world sang Nicks song, Live Your Life,” she wrote. “We sang it to him today, holding his hands. As I sang the last line to him, ‘they’ll give you hell but don’t you light them kill your light not without a fight. Live your life,’ I smiled because he definitely put up a fight. I will love you forever and always my sweet man.”
Kloots, who provided regular updates about her husband’s condition, had previously revealed that her husband got sick on March 20th. He entered the intensive care unit on March 31.
Two weeks later, his right leg was amputated because of blood clots, Kloots said. Over the course of his hospitalization, he lost 65 pounds and endured septic shock, two “mini strokes,” kidney dialysis, and the insertion of a temporary pacemaker. He awoke from roughly seven weeks in a medically-induced coma on May 5, Kloots said in an update.
Kloots was unable see her husband for 79 days due to COVID-19 restrictions at the hospital. Last week, she told “CBS This Morning” that while her husband had since tested negative for coronavirus and was awake from his coma, he was still critically ill and would likely need a double lung transplant.
Zach Braff, a close family friend of Cordero and Kloots, said in a social media tribute that Cordero died with his mother and wife by his side.
“I can honesty tell you I have never met a kinder human being,” he wrote. “Don’t believe that Covid only claims the elderly and infirm. I am so grateful for the time we had. ‘We’ll catch up some other time.’”