Buddy Valastro is on the mend. On Monday’s episode of The Rachael Ray Show, the 44-year-old baker opens up about his ongoing recovery, one year after sustaining a serious hand injury.
“I say we’re about 95 percent [healed], which, if that’s as good as it’s going to get, Rachael, I’ll take it,” the Cake Boss star says on the episode, as seen in a sneak peek clip.
“It’s definitely been an amazing ride,” Valastro adds. “The fact that I’m still able to do what I love… it’s amazing.”
Valastro injured his hand in September 2020, and shortly after the accident, Valastro’s rep told ET that the baker’s injury was a result of a malfunction with the bowling pinsetter at his home’s bowling alley.
When Valastro tried to repair the machine, his hand got lodged inside the unit, where it was impaled by a metal rod multiple times. Valastro’s sons cut the the rod with a saw to free his hand from the machine. He has since undergone five surgeries.
When the Cake Boss star co-hosted Entertainment Tonight in July, he told ET’s Rachel Smith that “it has been a long, long journey” to reach the point in his recovery where he was able to appear on the latest season Buddy vs Duff.
“Before I started this season of Buddy vs. Duff, I really did not know my capabilities. I knew I could do a lot more with my hand, but doing fine details or doing some crazy piping or different molding and shaping, you don’t really know until you are in it,” he said. “But I could tell you and you could see it on the show, we have done some of the best cakes we have ever did. So thank God that we did, and thank God for my surgeons.”
He also praised his family — including his wife, Lisa, and their kids, Sofia, 18, Buddy Jr., 17, Marco, 14, and Carlo, 10 — for their support amid his recovery.
“They definitely stepped up to the plate. In times of crisis, you don’t know what people’s reactions are going to be. ‘How are we going to do this?’ ‘What are we going to do?'” he told ET. “We all came together and I am so proud of my boys and thankful to my whole family.”
“My wife, with the recovery, was amazing, my kids, my sisters, my brother-in-laws,” he continued. “But most of all, the fans. The love and support you get from everyone, it means a lot.”
