80s comedy legend Chevy Chase has made a remarkable recovery after experiencing heart failure. The 82-year-old comedy legend endured a five-week hospital stay owing to cardiac complications during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the full severity of his condition only now being disclosed. In the new documentary, I’m Chevy Chase, and You’re Not, his daughter Caley Chase revealed: “He has basically come back from the dead. He had heart failure.”
His wife Jayni Chase elaborated: “Something was wrong, and he couldn’t explain to me what was wrong. So, we go to the ER. His heart stops. During those years he was drinking, he got cardiomyopathy; when the heart muscles get weaker, and they can’t pump as much blood out with each beat.” Peter Aaron, a close friend of Chevy’s, disclosed that relatives were advised to “prepare for the worst” whilst he fought heart failure, a condition that can stem from cardiomyopathy.
He stated: “They decided to put him into a coma for maybe eight days. That’s pretty rough on the body.”
Caley recalled: “The doctor had warned us: ‘We might not get him back. We don’t know how present he’ll be. Prepare yourselves for the worst.’ He woke up, all he could do was use his voice.”
However, Caley recognised her comedian father was recovering when he began joking with a nurse who entered to adjust some medical apparatus.
Caley recounted: “She said, ‘I’m going to have to put this in here.’ And he said, ‘That’s what she said.'”
However, the road to recovery proved challenging, with Peter disclosing that Chevy experienced some “cognitive disability” and required considerable time to “reorient himself” following the coma.
He continued: “I feel like his memory gaps come from that incident.”
Chevy concurred, explaining: “According to the doctors, my memory would be shot from it. That’s what’s happened here.”
He added: “Heart failure is what it is. I’m fine now. It’s just that it affects your memory, the doctors have told me that. So, I have to be reminded of things.”
