“Cake Boss” star Buddy Valastro says he worries he won’t be able to return to baking after a horrific bowling accident earlier this month left him with severe injuries requiring multiple surgeries.
Valastro, who is recovering at home in Montville, N.J., told People he was informed that a “long road to recovery” likely awaits him.
“I have a thing with my hands,” he said. “If I get a paper cut on my hand, I’m pissed off. My hands to me are my lifeline of everything I do, and I wonder, ‘Am I ever going to do what I used to be able to do?’ ”
Valastro was bowling with his family Sept. 20 when there was a malfunction with the bowling pinsetter. During an interview on the TODAY show, Valastro explained how the accident happened.
“The machine was stuck … and I went behind to fix the machine,” Valastro told the TODAY Show. “Before you know it … I turned my head for a second, and my right hand got wedged between a fork. And then this other rod that goes through the fork … pierced through my middle finger and my ring finger. And it was not a sharp object. It was blunt … it just blew out half my hand.”
The 1-1/2-inch metal rod impaled his hand three times.
“There was blood everywhere … and I was stuck,” Valastro said. “The machine … was going back and forth. But something told me to stay calm. And I told my sons … you got to get me off the machine.”
Valastro then told his sons to go get a saw and pliers. Valastro’s brother, who is a fireman, and Valstro’s two sons used a saw to cut through the metal rod and free Valastro’s hand from the machine.
Valastro told ET Monday that the accident left him with “severe nerve damage, severe tendon damage and severe muscle damage” as well as a shattered thumb.
“I might not ever be able to pipe again. I don’t know,” he said. “Unfortunately, I might have to learn to do it with my other hand, you just don’t know. It’s one of those things that only time and rehabilitation will [tell]… and God, really.”
The “Cake Boss” star has remained positive throughout, however.
“The prayers and support from all over the world has made me feel so special,” Valastro said after getting out of surgery earlier this month. “It makes me want to fight to get better for them. It makes me want to be the man that I was.”