Musician Jesse Malin paralyzed from waist down after rare spinal stroke

Musician Jesse Malin, a prominent figure in the New York City rock and punk scenes, suffered a rare spinal stroke last month and has been paralyzed from the waist down since.

Malin was taken by ambulance to Mount Sinai hospital May 4 after he collapsed at a restaurant in the East Village and needed to be carried out, Carla Parisi, a representative for Malin, confirmed Thursday.

He was later diagnosed with an extremely rare spinal cord infarction, or a stroke in his spine, which paralyzed him.

"Jesse asks that everyone picture him dancing," Parisi said in an email.

Malin is under neurological care at Langone Orthopedic Center at NYU Hospital, according to the donation campaign created to help cover his medical expenses.

"His diagnosis is inoperable," the website says. "There is hope but it will be a long hard road using both traditional and alternative medical therapies to get him back on his feet following this very tragic diagnosis."

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Malin said he felt a burning pain in his lower back that spread to his hips and legs and then he fell to the floor. He didn't know what was happening with his body, and "everybody was standing above me like in 'Rosemary’s Baby.'"

Malin told the magazine he's determined to have a positive mental attitude about his condition and recovery.

"I’m told that they don’t really understand it, and they’re not sure of the chances," he said. "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."

Malin, a Queens native, began his rock ’n’ roll career as a teenager in the 1980s with the hard-core punk group Heart Attack.

But he's most likely best known for being the frontman of the punk band D Generation, which formed in New York City in the early 1990s.

D Generation released three albums before it disbanded in 1999, though the group reunited for various projects over the years.

Malin has also maintained a successful solo career. He collaborated with Green Day on a project under the group name Rodeo Queens in 2009, releasing a song called "Depression Times."

His most recent album, "Sad and Beautiful World," was released in September 2021 to strong reviews in Rolling Stone and American Songwriter, which called the double album a "well-rounded portrait of the talented singer/songwriter."

"He’s a rocker with a folksinger’s soul, or perhaps a folkie with a rocker’s spirit," the publication said. "In either case, both sides are well represented over the course of these 15 tracks that prove Jesse Malin’s creativity is alive and well."

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com