'Cake Boss' Buddy Valastro recovering after accident impales his hand
Buddy Valastro at a celebrity fashion show in April 2019 at Church of the Holy Apostles in Manhattan. Credit: Getty Images for Dressed to Kilt/Jared Siskin
Celebrity baker Buddy Valastro, a star of numerous TV culinary shows including "Cake Boss," was seriously injured when his right hand, lodged in a piece of equipment at his New Jersey home's bowling alley, was pierced multiple times by a metal rod.
"I was involved in a terrible accident a few days ago," Valastro, 43, wrote Wednesday on social media, alongside a photo of himself in a hospital bed, his right forearm and hand covered in medical wrapping. "What do you think of my new accessory?"
Celebrity chefs and restaurateurs including Cat Cora, Duff Goldman, Alex Guarnaschelli, Emeril Lagasse and Brooke Williamson posted supportive wishes on his Instagram account, as did Lake Grove's Brittani "B-Lashes" Schwartz, from MTV's "Double Shot at Love."
Valastro's representative Nicole Monan, in a statement to Newsday, cited "a malfunction with the bowling pinsetter, a common fix in the past." She said of the Sunday accident: "After trying to release the bowling pin from the cage mechanism, his right hand became lodged and compressed inside the unit. Unable to remove his hand, he can see a 1½-inch metal rod slowly and repeatedly impale his hand three times between his ring finger and middle finger."
His hand remained impaled for more than five minutes until two of Valastro's four children, Buddy Jr., who turns 16 on Tuesday, and Marco, 13, along with Valastro's brother-in-law, 20-year firefighter Joe Faugno, a 52-year-old captain in the Harrison Fire Department in Hudson County, New Jersey, "rushed to the garage for a reciprocating saw to cut through the metal rod and relieve Buddy from the machine."
Valastro underwent emergency surgery at New Jersey's Morristown Medical Center, followed by a second operation at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan. "It will be an uphill battle as it's Buddy's dominant right hand and he will need prolonged recovery & therapy," the statement said.
On Wednesday, Valastro said in an Instagram Stories video, which cycles out after 24 hours: "I had a really bad accident the other day at my house, with my hand. And I'm at HSS in the city, getting the best care possible, and I just wanted to thank you guys for all the love and support and we're going to get through this together." Blowing a kiss to fans, he added, "Love you."
