Lamar Odom said to have regained consciousness and is speaking
LAS VEGAS – Lamar Odom has regained consciousness, and is communicating – speaking and even giving a thumbs-up from his hospital bed – just days after being found in extremely critical condition at a Nevada brothel, loved ones said.
It’s the first significant update on Odom’s health since he was found unconscious and facedown at the Love Ranch in Crystal, Nevada, Tuesday afternoon.
Alvina Alston, publicist for JaNean Mercer, Odom’s maternal aunt and godmother, said that Odom spoke a greeting and gave a thumbs-up Friday morning, his first communication since being hospitalized in Las Vegas.
“He woke up and he spoke,” Alston said.
A person who is close to estranged wife Khloe Kardashian, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to release details of Odom’s condition to the press, also said that he was able to say hi to Kardashian.
One of his former coaches, Jim Harrick, who said Odom sounded upbeat on a call just a few weeks ago, said Kardashian told him that Odom is now off dialysis, and that he showed a response when she reached down to say “Lamar, I love you.”
“Khloe has promised me she’s going to stay by his bedside until she and him can walk out of the hospital together,” Harrick said.
Authorities are still retracing Odom’s $75,000, three-day visit to the brothel that started late afternoon Saturday, with blood test results to determine what caused his medical episode still pending.
The brothel’s owner and spokesman have said that he chose two women to accompany him in a VIP suite on his first visit to the ranch. Odom had said that he had done cocaine before his arrival, and the brothel said they saw him drink alcohol and take as many as 10 supplements sold as “herbal Viagra.” One brand that he took, Reload, was the subject of a 2013 warning from the Food and Drug Administration, which said the pill contained sildenafil, the active ingredient in prescription Viagra.
The brothel also said he became upset Sunday following a phone call where his ex’s “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” show was mentioned. But he was generally in a good mood, even suggesting that he stay an entire week at the brothel in the rural community.
Odom was then found unconscious there Tuesday with white and reddish substances coming from his nose and mouth. He was breathing and taken to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center in Las Vegas.
Kardashian rushed to his side that night and since then, friends, teammates and loved ones, including his two children, have visited and posted messages on social media asking for prayers. On Wednesday at the hospital, the Rev. Jesse Jackson said Odom was on life support.
Harrick also praised Kardashian for sticking by his side as a frenzy of people – well-wishers inside and media outside – crowded the hospital.
Friday’s latest update on Odom’s health condition comes as Mercer and Kardashian just hours earlier started speaking out to thank fans.