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CNN Documentary Reveals Chevy Chase’s 8-Day Coma After 2021 Heart Failure

The authorized film offers the first detailed family account of a cardiomyopathy-related crisis with lasting memory issues.

Overview

  • Doctors induced a coma for about eight days after Chase’s heart stopped in the ER, with physicians warning his family they might not get him back.
  • His wife, Jayni, says he was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, which she links to years of drinking, and recalls the emergency that led to his heart stopping.
  • Chase and his family say the episode left him with memory gaps that doctors attribute to the event, and friends used cards and chess to aid his cognitive recovery.
  • The comedian spent five weeks hospitalized in 2021 and later said he felt physically fine, though he still needs reminders because of lingering memory problems.
  • The CNN film I’m Chevy Chase and You’re Not premieres Jan. 1 and also captures his disappointment over being left off the SNL 50th anniversary stage.