Kel Mitchell wants his supporters to see firsthand that he is doing well after being suddenly stricken by a health scare. The actor opened up about the series of events that led to his hospitalization earlier in the week in his first address to concerned fans this weekend.
News that the former Nickelodeon star was ill broke on Nov. 8 when TMZ reported that he was admitted to a Los Angeles area hospital. He was released the following day and, on Instagram, thanked his fans for the positive vibes and prayers during the “genuinely frightening time.” He noted that he was on the road to recovery but did not share details about his mysterious ordeal at that time. All that changed, however, on Saturday (Nov. 11).
Appearing before a camera in good spirits, Mitchell explained that while shopping on Tuesday (Nov. 7) he suddenly felt disoriented. “The whole room started spinning,” he began. Mitchell said he initially thought he was dehydrated, but after grabbing a bit to eat and drink, his symptoms did not subside but instead worsened. “The whole right side of my arm and my leg was numb, okay, followed by not being able to swallow. And that’s when I panicked.”
“At the ER I failed the arm and leg test, and so that was raising fears of like something was serious because I could not move my right arm; my motor skills were not working,” he continued. The Good Burger 2 star recounted being held overnight as a host of tests, including a CT scan and ECG, were administered to determine the root cause of his medical scare. “What we feared wasn’t what it was. It was actually a bulging disc that I had from a prior injury that was pressing up against a nerve, mimicking all those symptoms that I was going through.”
His medical scare came seven months after Jamie Foxx fell ill while filming a movie in Atlanta. The actor has been on the mend for months now, making infrequent appearances in public. Though details of the private matter have not been shared publicly, Foxx spoke out in July, vaguely providing an update on his wellbeing and comically shutting down conspiracies that he was cloned, blind and paralyzed.