‘Blue Bloods’ Alum Nick Cordero’s Eyes Are ‘Opening up’ But He’s Not Responding to Commands, Wife Says

Nick Cordero is slowly making progress while recovering from severe coronavirus complications, the Tony-nominated actor’s wife, Amanda Kloots, revealed to his friends and fans Monday. In an Instagram Live session, Kloots said the Broadway actor’s doctors say he is making “good progress” following a tracheostomy procedure last week, adding that he was beginning to open his eyes.

“The doctors say Nick is looking good. His settings on everything are getting better, so he says that there’s good progress. And now we just need him to wake up,” Kloots said, as per PEOPLE. “His eyes are opening up but they’re not connected to anything right now. So we just need them to connect to something.”

Speaking with the family members and friends of other people who have recovered from COVID-19, Kloots has been trying to “get an idea of the mindset of when they wake up out of a coma and what they remember,” which she said has been “super helpful” in her own journey with Cordero. She explained, “One of the things they said is that the first step is that the eyes open. The second step is that the eyeballs sort of track. We are at eyes open, which is great. We just need, like, the mental status to kick in.”

The Blue Bloods actor has been in the intensive care unit since late March, having initially been admitted to the hospital with respiratory problems and diagnosed with pneumonia. Soon after, he became unconscious and was placed in a medically induced coma. Put on dialysis to prop up his kidneys, Cordero then was found to have a lung infection and forced to undergo emergency surgery. During this recovery, Cordero began to have blood clots in his legs. When the blood thinners he was treated with began to cause complications, doctors decided to amputate his one leg. (A GoFundMe page was set up by friends of the family to help raise money for Cordero’s extensive medical bills.)

Thursday, Kloots revealed on social media that while her husband has since tested negative for COVID-19, his lungs have become “severely damaged.” She explained at the time, “The doctor told me that if Nick was in his seventies, we’d be having a different conversation. He’s 41, and he’s been fighting. He’s been fighting really hard. We know he’s literally been thrown every curveball that he could be thrown. I’m not giving up hope.”