Sufjan Stevens Hospitalized, Relearning To Walk After Guillain-Barré Left Him Immobile
20.09.2023 - 16:51
/ deadline.com
Sufjan Stevens, the Oscar-nominated indie singer-songwriter, has been hospitalized with Guillain-Barré syndrome and is relearning to walk after the neurological disorder left him with what he says was “no strength, no feeling, no mobility.”
In a Tumblr post today, Stevens addressed his slow recovery and ongoing hospitalization, explaining why he has not been participating in “press and promotion” for the upcoming Oct. 6 release of his album Javelin.
“I’m very excited about having new music to share,” he writes, “but I just wanted to let you know that one of the reasons why I haven’t been able to participate in the press and promotion leading up to the release of Javelin is bc I am in the hospital. Last month I woke up one morning and couldn’t walk. My hands, arms and legs were numb and tingling and I had no strength, no feeling, no mobility.”
He signed the post, “yours truly from a wheelchair, Sufjan Stevens.”
Read the entire message below.
Stevens, who also posted a photo of himself in the hospital, continued, “My brother drove me to the ER and after a series of tests—MRIs, EMGs, cat scans, X-rays, spinal taps (!), echo-cardiograms, etc.—the neurologists diagnosed me with an auto immune disorder called Guillian-Barre Syndrome. Luckily there’s treatment for this — they administer immuno-hemoglobin infusions for five days and pray that the disease doesn’t spread to the lungs, heart and brain. Very scary, but it worked. I spent about two weeks in Med/Surg, stuck in a bed, while my doctors did all the things to keep me alive and stabilize my condition. I owe them my life.”
According to the Mayo Clinic, Guillain-Barre syndrome is “a rare disorder in which your body’s immune system attacks your nerves. Weakness and