America’s Got Talent star Michael Grimm, the fifth contestant to win the US talent show competition, has been in hospital for more than a week with an unknown illness.
His wife Lucie Zolcerva-Grimm said the 44-year-old guitarist was sedated after being removed from a ventilator.
“It’s been an emotional ride … I know you all love Michael, and while I want to protect his privacy and his request to not disclose anything, we’re kind of in a situation,” Lucie shared on Tuesday in an emotional Instagram video.
Lucie said her husband had been “lacking energy” and unable to perform before the illness took hold. She added that doctors at various hospitals and emergency rooms “couldn’t figure out what was going on with him” before the malady “took him over” on 29 May.
Michael was growing “increasingly sickly” and couldn’t lift his head, let alone walk or respond to things when asked, she said. Lucie said she “thought he had a stroke” when Michael “started talking gibberish” and rushed him to the hospital.
Michael’s blood pressure skyrocketed “from the medication he was given,” she continued, and doctors sedated him and placed him on a ventilator.
“We don’t know what’s wrong,” she said between tears. “The doctors were finally able to remove the ventilator today, and he is breathing on his own,” she added in her Tuesday post.
“However, due to the last week, his body went through a lot. They do still have him sedated so that he doesn’t seize or flatline from the fluctuating blood pressure.”
Michael pulled off an impressive upset when he beat America’s Got Talent competitors Jackie Evancho and Prince Poppycock during the fifth season finale in 2010. Then 31, the shy blues singer from Mississippi hadn’t even rehearsed before his performance.
Lucie said most of her husband’s planned performances in June, and his 4 July performance, have been cancelled to “give him a chance” at a recovery.
She said her husband will need physical therapy and surgery to repair his vocal cords after more than a week on a ventilator.
Going on to thank the “phenomenal team of doctors and nurses” caring for her husband, Lucie said he’s “improving” — but “it’s just taking time”.