Actor Manuel Masalva, known for his role on Narcos: Mexico, has emerged from weeks in a medically induced coma, offering a glimpse into his harrowing ordeal.
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Masalva shared in his first post since contracting a bacterial infection that he spent 105 days in a Dubai hospital. “I am healing. I want to profoundly thank you all for the support you have given me and continue to give me, in every sense, every one of you,” Masalva wrote in Spanish. “More than ever, I believe that unity is strength.. This [process] has barely begun, there is much more left to go, but I feel blessed, strong, reborn, and well-accompanied. … God has given me a new chance at life. God has given me new life.”
“Today is 105 days, but I am awake, and the light has been raining down since,” the actor added. “81 [days] it took for me to breathe fresh air, the coming and going of thousands of people in this great hospital, where I was reborn, here in another culture, that has surpassed us in love and spirituality.”
Masalva ended his note by saying he doesn’t fully understand “all of what’s going on or just a part of it,” but he is very grateful. “It’s been an eternity, and there are still some parts missing. I just want to give the strongest thanks that I can give to God, my family, my doctors, and all those people that have supported me since the start of this process. I owe you all my life, without you and the hand of God, it wouldn’t be real,” he concluded.
The Narcos: Mexico Actor Had Emergency Surgery Back in March
In April, The Los Angeles Times reported that Masalva arrived in Dubai on March 18. Within two days, he experienced severe pain caused by a bacterial infection. He had emergency surgery on March 26, but the infection spread to his lungs, leading to a medically induced coma.
“Doctors have said that Manuel is responding to the treatment to attack the bacteria and little by little his body is getting stronger,” Masalva’s agent, Jaime Jaramillo Espinosa, told Entertainment Weekly back in April. “There is daily encouraging news, and it will be a matter of days or a couple of weeks before his health condition allows him to be taken off sedation and regain consciousness. For now, it is a matter of waiting, as it is a slow process.”
Masalva has appeared in over a dozen films and TV shows, including Narcos: Mexico, a series about Mexico’s drug trade that ended in 2021 after three seasons. The show also featured Diego Luna, Michael Peña, and Tenoch Huerta Mejía.