Nicholas Brendon, 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' Actor, Hospitalized for ‘Cardiac Incident’

Nicholas Brendon
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Brendon's sister shared the news in a post on the 51-year-old actor's Instagram.

Nicholas Brendon is recovering after suffering a "cardiac incident" earlier this month. The Buffy the Vampire Slayer actor's sister shared an update on Brendon's condition on his Instagram page, in which she revealed that he had to be rushed to the emergency room.

"Nicky sends his love and wanted me to apologize that he hasn’t been going live as much lately and to give everyone an update," the post began. "Nicky is doing fine now but he had to be rushed to emergency about two weeks ago because of a cardiac incident (tachycardia/arrhythmia)."

"Some of you might remember he had a similar incident after his second spinal surgery last year (for Cauda Equina)," she continued.

Brendon suffers from Cauda Equina syndrome, which is when the nerve roots in the lumbar spine are compressed, limiting movement and sensation.

"But this time," his sister added, "he is trying to get a little more rest and has been concentrating on medical appointments."

The post featured several shots of the 51-year-old actor in the ambulance and at the hospital receiving treatment.

Brendon's latest health struggle comes as a result of the ongoing condition. Last year, he underwent emergency spinal surgery after he reported experiencing "paralysis in his genitals" and legs, which he attributed to an August 2021 jail stint.

The Criminal Minds actor was arrested in Indiana and charged with felony prescription fraud. It was during his time behind bars that his manager, Theresa Fortier, claimed that his condition was exacerbated by sleeping on a concrete floor during his stay.

"During the arrest, they were not quite careful with his condition," Fortier told The Daily Mail. "It has aggravated the symptoms of his previous injury and the paralysis is starting to reappear. He may have burst another disc or [had] everything fell out of alignment."

"So sleeping on a cement floor with other inmates was not exactly conducive to healing and it aggravated his injury and since then he has been in immense pain with numbness and paralysis," she explained.

Brendon, who starred in Buffy as Xander Harris for the entirety of its seven-season run from 1997 to 2003, has long struggled with drugs and alcohol. He first checked himself into rehab in April 2004, but that wasn't the end for the actor.

He checked himself into rehab again in 2010 and twice in 2015 but continued to face challenges with drugs and alcohol as well as with the law, with Brendon getting arrested numerous times over the years.

Prior to the 2021 jail stint, Brendon was serving a three-year probation sentence for attacking a former girlfriend in 2017.

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