Coronavirus-induced complications force Broadway star Nick Cordero to undergo leg amputation surgery

A GoFundMe page for Cordero's medical bills had raised more than $280,000 as of Sunday afternoon

Broadway star Nick Cordero has successfully undergone leg amputation surgery after experiencing serious complications due to the coronavirus.

In an Instagram story on Saturday morning, Cordero's wife, Amanda Kloots, said the Tony Award-nominated actor had been given blood thinners to help with clotting in his right leg, but the treatment caused internal bleeding in his intestines.

“They had him on blood thinners for the clotting and unfortunately the blood thinners were causing some other issues — blood pressure and some internal bleeding in his intestines," Kloots said. "We took him off blood thinners but that again was going to cause some clotting in the right leg. So the right leg will be amputated today.”

Hours later, she shared an update that his surgery had gone well.

"He made it through the surgery, which is really big because obviously his body is pretty weak," Kloots said on her Instagram story. "Hopefully he'll just kind of relax and rest."

In a post that same day, she thanked the doctors and nurses taking care of Cordero, and thanked her followers for their prayers and support.

"Right after we finished singing tonight, I got a phone call from the hospital saying that Nick made it out of surgery alive and he is headed to his room to rest and recover! AMEN!" Kloots said. "He is hearing us!!! He is hearing the support, the love and your voices everyday. I just know it. Thank you God for watching over him and for the incredible doctors and nurses @cedarssinai hospital! I may sleep tonight."

Cordero, 41, has spent 19 days in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center's intensive care unit while sick with the coronavirus. He recently moved to Los Angeles to join the cast of "Rock of Ages."

Cordero is known for playing "Earl" in the Broadway smash hit Waitress and starred as "Sonny" in the musical adaption of "A Bronx Tale." In 2014, Cordero played "Cheech" in the musical adaption of Woody Allen's "Bullets Over Broadway," for which he earned a 2014 Tony Award nomination. He also has appeared on television in several episodes of CBS' "Blue Bloods."

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This latest health update comes a week after doctors found a “new infection” in Cordero’s lung and he underwent emergency surgery.

“We had really great progress and then yesterday I got a phone call saying he had an infection in his lung, a new infection, that caused his fever to spike way above normal, which caused his blood pressure to drop, which caused his heart to go into [an] irregular pattern,” Kloots said in a series of Instagram story videos posted on April 11. “He lost consciousness, he lost his pulse and they had to resuscitate him. It was very scary. They had a very hard time getting him back.”

Cordero first entered the ICU on March 31, when he was “having a hard time breathing" after originally being diagnosed with pneumonia. He had tested negative for COVID-19 twice before a third test came back positive. According to Kloots, Cordero is unconscious after contracting the virus and had to be put on a ventilator so that his body could get enough oxygen.

After Cordero was put on dialysis to assist his kidneys, things were "really moving in the right direction," until immediate surgery became necessary.

"We were waiting again and this afternoon we got a phone call that things were really moving in the right direction and that his life was being saved, which was huge," Kloots said in her Instagram Story on April 12. "And we all kind of celebrated for a minute until we got a phone call shortly right after saying one of the cannulas for the ECMO was stopping blood flow to his right leg and they had to go into immediate surgery to save the blood flow to his leg."

Kloots, who shares 10-month-old son, Elvis Eduardo, with Cordero, added at the time, “I’m told the fact that he made it through the surgery is a win. We are taking any and all wins right now.”

Friends of Cordero have launched a GoFundMe campaign in order to cover the cost of his medical bills. As of Sunday afternoon, the page has raised more than $280,000. In addition, Kloots is sending Cordero daily videos of her and their son so that he could see them when he woke up, and has encouraged her followers to use the hashtag #WakeUpNick on social media to send her husband good vibes. She also invited them to join in a daily sing-a-long.

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The virus has sickened other Broadway veterans, including actors Danny Burstein, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Gavin Creel, Aaron Tveit and Laura Bell Bundy, as well as composer David Bryan. It has also claimed the life of Tony-winning playwright Terrence McNally.

According to the latest update by Johns Hopkins University, there are more than 742,000 coronavirus cases in the United States.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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