After a brave three-month fight, beloved Broadway actor Nick Cordero died of complications from the coronavirus on Sunday.
The recent father, 41, had no underlying conditions, his wife Amanda Kloots has said, and his health struggles lasted long after he repeatedly tested negative for the virus.
The timeline of his decline is a tragic reminder that even young, healthy people with no pre-existing health issues — such as diabetes or obesity — can still die after catching the coronavirus.
The Tony Award-nominated actor’s health issues began in late March. After moving from New York to Los Angeles at the beginning of the month, the Hamilton, Ontario, native began feeling intensely fatigued, spending almost a week in bed. On March 26, while changing his son Elvis’ diaper, he fainted.
An urgent-care clinic sent him home, with instructions to return four days later if he didn’t feel better.
By March 30, “Nick’s breathing became labored. I took him to Cedars-Sinai, and he stayed overnight,” Kloots, a celebrity trainer, told The Post in early May. A day later, the “A Bronx Tale” performer was moved to the intensive care unit, put into a medically induced coma and intubated, although tests for COVID-19 initially came back negative.
After six days on a ventilator at Cedars-Sinai medical center in LA, Cordero showed signs of improvement — unsurprising to his wife, 38, who expected him to get better, seeing as he was “41 and healthy,” — and doctors prepared to take it out, when he came close to death: For two minutes, he had no pulse. He spent the next five days on an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine that pumped and oxygenated his blood.
In mid-April, the “Waitress” actor had his right leg amputated to fix a blood flow issue. By the end of the month, Kloots announced on her Instagram Story, where she loyally documented her husband’s progress, that he may be turning a corner in his battle: He had twice tested negative for COVID-19. Tragically, the virus being out of his system did not mean the end to his health woes.
In early May, Cordero underwent a tracheostomy procedure to help remove him from a ventilator.
At last, on May 12, after over a month in intensive care, two mini strokes, a septic infection, lung fungus and having a temporary pacemaker put in, Cordero woke up from his coma.
The good news was, sadly, short-lived, after a lung infection proved more enduring than anticipated, and a double lung transplant became “likely” necessary. Cordero began undergoing stem-cell treatment in early June.
For the rest of June, Kloots continued posting Instagram updates about Cordero’s health and singing the “Waitress” song “Live Your Life” every day at 3 p.m. Pacific Standard Time — a tradition begun after nurses played the song and his blood pressure improved. But the good news became increasingly scarce.
On July 5, while surrounded by family, Cordero succumbed to complications caused by the deadly virus.
“God has another angel in heaven now. My darling husband passed away this morning,” Kloots posted. “I will love you forever and always my sweet man.”
An outpouring of tributes followed his death, with Hollywood and Broadway mourning the late theater star alongside those who had followed his battle with the virus via Kloots’ posts.
“Nick Cordero passed at 11:40am today with his wife and mother by his side,” Zach Braff, a longtime friend of Cordero who has been hosting Kloots and Elvis in his guest house, memorialized. “I have honestly never known a kinder person. But Covid doesn’t care about the purity of your soul, or the goodness in your heart.”