Singer/songwriter Jesse Malin suffered a rare, inoperable spinal cord stroke last month that has left him paralyzed from the waist down. The musician was sitting with friends at dinner in New York City’s East Village neighborhood when he felt a burning pain in his back that moved to his legs and heels. He then collapsed on the restaurant’s floor and was unable to walk.
“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.
Malin spent two weeks at Mount Sinai hospital before he was moved to NYU Langone Orthopedic Center. He also said that the doctors who treated him do not know the cause of the stroke.
“This is the hardest six weeks that I’ve ever had,” Malin continued. “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 manager David Bason and his friends have launched a campaign through Sweet Relief to help cover his medical expenses.
