“America’s Got Talent” winner Michael Grimm has been hospitalized and remains unconscious as he battles a serious unknown illness.
The 44-year-old blues singer, who won season 5 of the talent competition series, was admitted to an intensive care unit, where he was sedated and placed on a ventilator after falling ill Memorial Day, according to his wife, Lucie Zolcerva-Grimm.
Zolcerva-Grimm, who is also Grimm’s manager, addressed his friends and fans in an 11-minute clip she uploaded to the musician’s Instagram page Wednesday.
“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,” Zolcerva-Grimm said while tearing up. “It’s been an emotional ride.
“For those of you who have been out to see Michael in the last couple of months, you may have noticed that he was struggling with his health a lot, lacking energy and not being able to fulfill shows.”
Zolcerva-Grimm explained that Grimm went to the emergency room, but doctors “couldn’t figure out what was going on with him.”
“Whatever the issue was, on Memorial Day, it kind of took him over,” she said. “He was looking increasingly sickly. All of a sudden, he could barely walk, couldn’t lift his head. He couldn’t respond right away to me. When I would ask him things, he would get really fuzzy.”
Zolcerva-Grimm said she then rushed her husband to an emergency room because she feared he might be having a stroke.
“That wasn’t the case, luckily,” she said. “Whatever was going on in his body from whatever — toxins, I guess — they were going to his brain. He started talking gibberish, and all of a sudden, like physical tremors were setting in, his blood pressure was skyrocketing. He became really agitated with the medication he was given, and they had to put him in ICU.
“So, he’s doing good,” she said. “However, due to the last week, his body went through a lot. And they do still have him sedated so that he doesn’t seize or flatline from the fluctuating blood pressure. So, even though Michael may not like this, because he’s a very private person, I do want to let you guys know because he is not going to be around for a little while.”
Zolcerva-Grimmn explained she had canceled most of Grimm’s upcoming concerts in June and his July 4 show.
“I haven’t canceled anything else moving forward because I’m trying to be hopeful and give him a chance to come back and see where he’s at,” she said. “It’s a day-by-day process. So, you may see some cancellations coming in July.
“Michael has been in ICU a week for the safety of his health,” Zolcerva-Grimma continued. “They had to put him on a ventilator and sedate him pretty heavily so that he wouldn’t stroke out, so that he wouldn’t flatline.”
Zolcerva-Grimm added that Grimm was taken off the ventilator Wednesday and was breathing on his own.
She said Grimm’s doctors have not yet been able to diagnose his illness.
“He is improving so that is good,” Zolcerva-Grimm said. “It’s just taking time.
“It’s really just a day by day, minute by minute thing. My priority right now is to stand by Michael and stay at the hospital and make sure that he is stable and he is taken care of.”
Zolcerva-Grimm assured fans Grimm was being treated by a “phenomenal team of doctors and nurses.” However, she explained that the singer was facing a difficult recovery.
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“Michael will have to not only come back to full consciousness, which he’s not yet, he will also have to now undergo physical therapy because he’s been bedridden for over a week,” she said.
“He currently has no voice. He’s got to go under vocal cord repair from time being on the ventilator and get all his organs back up and all his muscles working again. Mentally, he needs to come back from this and return to a state of health.
“So this may take a little time, and I’m asking all of the fans to be patient, please.”
Zolcerva-Grimm concluded her video by thanking Grimm’s fans for their love and support. She shared information on how supporters could donate toward Grimm’s medical expenses and where they could send him letters.
“Have Michael in your hearts and prayers and love,” she said. “He loves all of you guys. Stay strong.”
The Mississippi native proposed to Zolcerva-Grimm during an appearance on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” the day after he was named the winner of “AGT” in 2010. The pair tied the knot in 2011.
During the finals, he told judges Piers Morgan, Sharon Osbourne and Howie Mandel his performance of “When A Man Loves A Woman” was inspired by Zolcerva-Grimm, his girlfriend of three years at the time, per People magazine.
“She’s been there for me,” Grimm told DeGeneres, according to the outlet. “Once you find that good woman, you hang on to her.”
