Buddy Valastro.Photo: Buddy Valastro/Instagram
Buddy Valastro is still on the road to recovery, but closer to the finish line than ever.
A year after crushing his hand in a gruesomeaccident at his home bowling alley, theCake Bossstar toldTodayon Tuesday that while he “might have to get another surgery over time,” he’s nearly back to better.
“I had nerve damage and she repaired the nerve,” he explained. “These fingers here, for like a year, just felt tingly and asleep, but now the nerve’s starting to regenerate and it actually feels back to normal. It’s so crazy what we can do today with technology.”
“You have such a different respect for the doctors — not that I didn’t respect them before but when it happens to you, you just think of all those people who helped you get where you are and recover,” the Food Network star added. “And through COVID! They really were truly heroes.”
Valastro, 44, injured himself on Sept. 20, 2020 when his bowling alley’s pinsetter malfunctioned while he was spending quality time with his family. As he fixed the issue, his right hand became lodged in the machine and a metal rod impaled his hand three times between his ring finger and middle finger.
After undergoingfive reconstructive hand surgeriesand physical therapy, the celebrity baker has steadily improved — though looking back to his first surgery, he admitted toTODAYhe “really had no idea what I was going to get back to. At that point, I don’t think the doctor even knew.”
“It was really scary because that’s part of me that I call my inner child. When I think aboutCake Boss, or I think about these cakes that I make, I think that anything in the world is possible, and then I go and make it happen with my hands. This is what I do,” Valastro said. “And I felt like part of that might not ever be there again. It was tough.”
He documented his journey on a TLC special calledBuddy Valastro: Road to Recovery,and even filmed a third season of his Food Network and discovery+ series with Duff Goldman,Buddy vs. Duff(which he won).
“The fact that I’m here talking to you guys today doing what I’m doing?” Valastro said, with surprise.
“I don’t think I’m going to be a hand model,” he joked.
Buddy Valastro in the hospital on Sept. 23.Buddy Valastro/Facebook
In September, Valastro appeared onThe Rachael Ray Showwhere he said he was “about 95%” healed.
Last year, days after his accident, Valastro told PEOPLE that the injury was “the worst pain that I’ve ever encountered in my life.”
“I looked at my hand and blood was gushing everywhere,” Valastro recalled. “It looked like a Halloween movie. …. It was all a nightmare.”
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
His family — wifeLisaand their four children (daughter Sofia, 17, and sons Buddy Jr., 16, Marco, 13, and Carlo, 10) — all lent their support to him throughout his recovery.
“They definitely stepped up to the plate,” Valastro toldEntertainment Tonightin July. “In times of crisis, you don’t know what people’s reactions are going to be. ‘How are we going to do this?’ ‘What are we going to do?’ We all came together and I am so proud of my boys and thankful to my whole family.”
source: people.com
