New York singer-songwriter Jesse Malin has revealed that earlier this year he suffered a rare spinal stroke causing him to be paralyzed from the waist down. On May 4th, he was out to dinner with friends in Manhattan’s East Village when he suddenly collapsed to the floor. He and his group were commemorating the one-year anniversary of the death of his best friend/former D Generation bandmate Howie Pyro. Malin had to be carried by Murphy’s Law singer Jimmy G from the Italian restaurant into the hallway of a nearby apartment, and an ambulance was called to take him uptown to Mount Sinai Hospital.
“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,” he shared with Rolling Stone. He learned that he suffered a spinal cord infarction, a rare disorder caused by arteriosclerosis or a thickening or closing of the major arteries to the spinal cord. After two weeks of undergoing spinal tests, he was transferred to a neurological care center at NYU Langone Hospital where he continues to recover.
He has been told by the doctors that they don’t fully understand it, and that they’re unsure of the chances. “This is the hardest six weeks that I’ve ever had.” Continuing, “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 requests two 50-foot cords at every show, and is known for high-powered performances which involve jumping down from the stage to play among the audience. He was a teenager surfing the crowd during the notorious Saturday Night Live set of the hardcore punk band Fear, who were invited by John Belushi to perform on the 1981 Halloween episode. The band was banned from the show after their performance prompted the crowd to mosh and break production equipment.
When he’s discharged later this month, Malin will be in a wheelchair and have to relocate from his walk-up apartment to an ADA-compliant one with an elevator. Like many musicians, Malin doesn’t have the financial means to support long-term care. He’s also losing money from a canceled summer tour. His manager David Bason and a group of friends launched a new campaign via the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund to raise money for the singer. This tax-deductible donation will go fully to his care.
Malin, who himself has organized benefits and championed causes, now finds himself trying to grasp the paradoxical nature of being on the receiving end. His various charity endeavors include Sweet Relief, MusiCares, Light of Day Foundation, Joe Strummer Foundation, Save Our Stages, Joey Ramone Foundation for Lymphoma Research, Joey’s Song, Black Lives Matter, Howl Helps, Positive Panther Benefit (Natalie Beaverstock/fan for a wheelchair), Rock The Night Foundation, Rock Against Racism, Jail Guitar Doors, The Bowery Mission, Road 2 Recovery Foundation, Little Kids Rock Foundation, and food banks around New York City.
“I always felt that we have a voice with these microphones and with these guitars and with these venues to help each other out. But it’s very hard for me to take back and be that person,” he says to Rolling Stone. “I don’t want to be a burden, but I’m learning. Just laying here and not being able to walk, it’s very humbling.”
An eternal optimist, he maintains a message of “P.M.A. (positive mental attitude),” which he learned long ago from his mentor, Bad Brains’ frontman H.R. “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. There’s something liberating about the truth, that this is what’s happening to me right now.”
Joyful irony can be found in Malin’s current creative success. “New York Comeback,” a song he co-wrote with Lucinda Williams (who suffered her own stroke in 2020), reached No. 1 on the Americana Radio Chart. The single features guest vocalists Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa. “Even though this has been the hardest time of my life, there’s been some gifts. I knew I had some great friends and great fans and people in this world, and I’m getting to see a lot of that — though I would have really preferred a birthday party than to find out this way.”
