‘America’s Got Talent’ Winner Fights for Life at Las Vegas Hospital

Michael Grimm, who won Season 5 of “America’s Got Talent” and now makes a living playing the Vegas casino lounge circuit, is fighting for his life against a mystery illness. According to a video posted by his wife, the 53-year-old singer-songwriter has been hospitalized in Las Vegas for the past week with unstable vital signs.

“I know you all love Michael and while I want to protect his privacy and his request to not disclose anything, we’re kind of in a situation,” Lucie Zolcerva-Grimm shared on her husband’s Instagram page this week. “It’s been an emotional ride.”

Over Memorial Day Weekend, three days after performing at Piazza Lounge at Tuscany Suites Casino, Grimm began having trouble lifting his head or responding to conversations, according to his wife. He also experienced tremors and suffered episodes where he spoke only gibberish.

On May 30, he was rushed to the ICU and placed on a ventilator. Initial concerns that Grimm had suffered a stroke were dispelled.

The doctors were finally able to remove the ventilator, and he is breathing on his own,” Lucie said on Tuesday. “However, due to the last week, his body went through a lot. They do still have him sedated so he doesn’t seize or flatline from the fluctuating blood pressure.”

“We don’t know what’s wrong,” she added, choking back tears.

Grimm doesn t have health insurance and the bills are mounting. So fellow Vegas lounge signer Mark OToole (not the Frankie Goes to Hollywood bass player who spells his last name with an apostrophe) has organized and will host a benefit to offset Grimm’s medical expenses. The all-star concert will be held July 9 at Veil Pavilion at the Silverton Hotel Casino Hotel.

Grimm became a national treasure during his championship run on “America’s Got Talent” in 2010. He won the competition by singing “When a Man Loves a Woman,” which he dedicated to Lucie, to whom he proposed the following day during an appearance on the “Ellen” show.