Nick Cordero's legacy continues to live on.
After battling Coronavirus for the last four months, the Broadway star died on Sunday, July 5. The actor was only 41 years old, and is survived by his wife, Amanda Kloots, and one-year-old son, Elvis.
Following the news, Zach Braff shared his heartbreak over his friend's passing.
"...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. The last thing he ever texted me was to look out for his wife and one year old son, Elvis," the 45-year-old star wrote on Instagram. "I promise the world they will never want for anything. I feel so incredibly grateful I got to have Nick Cordero enter my life."
On Tuesday, July 7, Zach opened up even more about the Broadway star's death on his and Donald Faison's podcast, Fake Doctors, Real Friends with Zach and Donald.
The Scrubs alum revealed that Nick died at 11:40 a.m., and was surrounded by his mother and wife, Amanda. Despite reports suggesting the Broadway star died due to COVID-19, Zach explained that wasn't entirely the case.
"Just for clarity sake, he didn't have COVID anymore," Zach stated. "What COVID did to Nick is what it does to a lot of people—it comes and wreaks havoc on your body and then leaves. You're left with, what the doctors call, lungs that look like Swiss cheese."
"They said it looked like he had been a heavy smoker his entire life. And he was on every machine they could put him on, and towards the end, they were all on full," the 45-year-old actor continued. "He'd have days where he was doing ok and everyone would get excited—and then it would all kind of go back to zero. The machines were really, truly keeping him alive."
Zach explained that if Nick were still alive today, he would've still needed a "double lung transplant and you only get those if you're healthy in all other ways."
For the Scrubs alum, he said the hardest thing he learned was that Amanda "was never able to see [Nick] fully conscious ever again" after she dropped him off at the hospital. Due to the circumstances, she wasn't able to be by his side throughout his hospital stay.
The only way Amanda got to see her husband was through FaceTime, which Zach said was "generous" of the nurses.
"Can you imagine how tragic this is? Your partner is in the hospital, you can't even be there," the actor expressed. "You can't be by their side, you can't hug them, you can't kiss them, you can't cheer them on... you have to do it over FaceTime."
Moreover, Zach shared how heartbreaking it was for him and his girlfriend, Florence Pugh, to see the fitness guru struggle with her family's new reality. Amanda and her one-year-old son were staying at his guest house in Los Angeles.
"This is how f--king tragic it was: [Amanda] would be 10 feet away from us, Florence and I, and sobbing. And we couldn't go hug her," Zach recalled. "We would literally stand 10 feet away from her and watch our friend sobbing."
The Scrubs alum said it's been hard to see people not take the COVID-19 outbreak seriously. He expressed, "I guess one of the hardest things for us, is seeing these young folks not believing that this can really kill them. The sad thing is... that I think the young attitude, and when I say young I mean under 50, is that people [say], 'Well, I don't want to get it but if I get it, I hear it's like the flu.'"
Adding, "And for some, that's true. And for some, there's what happened to Nick—where it just destroys your body. In treating him, he developed all these blood clots [that were] so bad, he had to have his leg removed. His blood pressure wasn't strong enough, so the tips of all his fingers and toes were blackening, and they would've had to [have] been removed had he lived."
The Scrubs actor said he promises to take care of Nick's baby boy and wife. He revealed that the Broadway star texted him that as his final message.
"We're all going to be doing our part to give this child an extraordinary life," Zach said of and Donald. "I promise that I'm going to do that for the rest of my life and I want to make him proud... you and I are going to be very involved in his life."
In late March, Nick was admitted to the intensive care unit, and at the time, doctors were unable to confirm whether or not his "pneumonia-like symptoms" were caused by COVID-19. His first test came out negative, but a second test revealed that he did, in fact, have COVID-19.
Over the weekend, Amanda shared the tragic news that her husband had passed away. "God has another angel in heaven now. My darling husband passed away this morning. He was surrounded in love by his family, singing and praying as he gently left this earth," the fitness guru wrote on Instagram. "I am in disbelief and hurting everywhere."
She added, "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."
To listen to Zach and Donald's latest podcast episode, click here.