Jesse Malin Reveals He’s Paralyzed From the Waist Down After Spinal Stroke

Jesse Malin revealed in a new interview that he is currently paralyzed from the waist down after a rare spinal stroke last month.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, the 54-year-old shared that he was out to dinner with a friend in New York City’s East Village when he suffered a spinal cord infarction (a stroke of the arteries surrounding or inside the spinal cord) that led to a searing pain within his lower extremities and resulted in him being hospitalized.

“Everybody was standing above me like in Rosemary’s Baby saying all these different things, and I was there not knowing what was going on with my body,” Malin told Rolling Stone.

After visiting Mount Sinai Hospital, the 54-year-old has been paralyzed, and doctors are unsure of his ability to overcome the paralysis. “This is the hardest six weeks that I’ve ever had,” he said. “I’m told that they don’t really understand it, and they’re not sure of the chances. The reports from the doctors have been tough, and there’s moments in the day where you want to cry and where you’re scared. But I keep saying to myself that I can make this happen. I can recover my body.”

Malin’s rehab consists of three rounds of physical therapy each day. He said that his doctors have a short-term goal of teaching him how to move his body without the use of his legs and to do daily tasks. He’ll be discharged later this month and will be in a wheelchair while he continues to recover.

“Just laying here and not being able to walk, it’s very humbling,” the guitarist said — which is why he initially didn’t share the severity of his condition with fans. “I didn’t want to get into the extremity of it. And now it’s just time to let people know. Even though I really believe it’s a temporary state, I’m not going to walk out of here tomorrow with a leather jacket and a cane and go hang out at the bar. It’s going to take a lot of work and a lot of being in a wheelchair.”