The 82-year-old actor and comedian spent five weeks in hospital due to heart issues during the COVID-19 pandemic and the extent of his health problems have now been revealed.
"He has basically come back from the dead. He had heart failure," his daughter Caley Chase explained in new documentary I'm Chevy Chase and You're Not.
His wife Jayni Chase added: "Something was wrong, and he couldn't explain to me what was wrong. So, we go to the ER. His heart stops. During those years he was drinking, he got cardiomyopathy; when the heart muscles get weaker, and they can't pump as much blood out with each beat."
Friend Peter Aaron revealed Chevy's loved ones were told to "prepare for the worst" as he battled heart failure, which can be caused by cardiomyopathy.
"They decided to put him into a coma for maybe eight days. That's pretty rough on the body," he said.
Caley said: "The doctor had warned us: 'We might not get him back. We don't know how present he'll be. Prepare yourselves for the worst.' He woke up, all he could do was use his voice."
But Caley knew her comedian dad was on the mend when he started cracking jokes with a nurse who came in to rearrange some medical equipment.
Caley explained: "She said, 'I'm going to have to put this in here.' And he said, 'That's what she said'."
However, it wasn't an easy recovery and Peter revealed Chevy had some "cognitive disability" and it took a while for him to "reorient himself" after the coma.
He went on: "I feel like his memory gaps come from that incident."
Chevy agreed, saying: "According to the doctors, my memory would be shot from it. That's what's happened here."
"Heart failure is what it is. I'm fine now. It's just that it affects your memory, the doctors have told me that. So, I have to be reminded of things."
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