‘He returned from the brink’: Chevy Chase endured eight days in a medically induced coma during the health crisis.
The famed comedian suffered a “near fatal” cardiac event that resulted in him being placed in an medically induced coma during the pandemic, per details from a recent documentary about the comedy star.
As documented in I’m Chevy Chase and You’re Not, the star of movies such as Caddyshack and the National Lampoon series, who emceed the Oscars on two occasions, was hospitalized for five full weeks in the medical facility.
“He wasn't right, and he couldn’t explain to me what was wrong. So, we headed to the ER. His heart gave out. During those years he was drinking, he was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy; when the heart muscles get weaker, and they can’t pump as much blood through the body with each beat.”
Medical professionals then put him into a coma for over a week, before cautioning his daughter, his daughter: “He may not recover. We don’t know how cognizant he’ll be. Prepare yourselves for the worst.”
“When he woke up, all he was able to do was use his voice,” she continued. “He has practically come back from the dead.”
Chase himself has stated that he has dealt with cognitive issues since his medical ordeal, and in the project he does not recollect some of his past professional and personal controversies, including a fight with fellow comedian Bill Murray in a Saturday Night Live green room.
The comedian noted he was “disappointed” by his absence from the milestone special of SNL this year, at which he was in attendance but not participating.
“To be frank, it was disappointing,” he said. “I'm only now voicing this. But I expected that I could have been on the stage too with all the other actors. When co-stars Garrett Morris and Laraine went on the stage, I was puzzled as to why I wasn't. There was no invitation. Why was I overlooked?”
The 82-year-old, nearly lost his life in 1980 when he was shocked by electricity on the set of Modern Problems, an accident which triggered a period of clinical depression.
