Kel Mitchell details hospital scare: ‘The whole right side of my arm and leg was numb’
Kel Mitchell has cleared the air on the health scare that landed him in the hospital last week.
The “Good Burger” star took to Instagram to share a video message from his home, appearing alert and smiling. “I figured I need to show my face ... I’m good, I’m here, I’m smiling,” he said, before detailing his trip to the emergency room. Doctors eventually diagnosed him with a nerve issue from a prior injury, Mitchell said, that had appeared to be something more serious.
Mitchell said the incident began Tuesday while he was shopping, when “suddenly, the whole room started spinning.” Thinking he was just dehydrated, he started to eat and drink. But at that point, he said, “the whole right side of my arm and leg was numb, followed by not being able to swallow.”
“That’s when I panicked,” he continued, adding that he “hobbled myself to the car” and drove himself to the hospital. (He said he “wouldn’t advise anybody to do that.”)
Kel Mitchell was hospitalized during a ‘genuinely frightening’ health scare. But the ‘Good Burger’ actor said he is back home and recovering.
At the emergency room, Mitchell said he failed the arm and leg test, which checks a patient’s blood flow within their limbs. He also said his basic motor skills weren’t functioning. “That was raising fears of like something was serious,” he said.
Various scans to find the cause of his problems kept him at the hospital overnight.
“It was actually a bulging disk that I had from a prior injury that was pressing up against a nerve that was mimicking all those symptoms I was going through,” Mitchell said.
On Friday, the “All That” alum had announced on social media that he was recovering at home after a “genuinely frightening” health scare, but he hadn’t disclosed the reason for his hospital visit. TMZ was the first outlet to report Mitchell’s hospitalization, citing a witness who said they saw a conscious and alert Mitchell entering a Los Angeles hospital’s emergency room.
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“The scare was real, but so was the support,” he had said in an earlier statement. “With the grace of God and the skill of the medical team, I’m on the road to recovery at home, embraced by the love of my family. Your kindness has been a lifeline, and I can’t thank you enough. Much love to each of you.”
On Monday, Mitchell went on to thank fans and fellow celebrities for their comments of support online, “even the crazy ones,” he said, mentioning a comment that suggested, “Give him orange soda in his IV,” a reference to his “Kenan & Kel” comedic character’s unabashed love for the soft drink.
Mitchell and Kenan Thompson are set to star in the long-awaited “Good Burger 2.” The duo had been teasing the sequel since an onscreen reunion during a 2015 “Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon” episode in which they parodied their iconic characters of Ed and Dexter Reed.
“Good Burger 2” is set to begin streaming on Nov. 22 on Paramount+.
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