Sufjan Stevens gives health update, reveals his rare Auto-Immune Disease

Indie scenes' jewel star Sufjan Stevens has had a long line of cult followers for years, and things were only going to get more exciting with the upcoming album Javelin, which is set to release on October 6, 2023. But tragedy struck the 48-year-old multi-instrumentalist as he woke up one morning with numb legs.

In a recent post on Tumblr, which happens to be Sufjan Stevens' social media platform of choice, the singer revealed that he was diagnosed with the rare Guillain-Barré syndrome, a neurological disorder where the body’s immune system attacks a portion of the peripheral nervous system. This has led the musician to lose control over his body, something he is trying to fix through "intense physical therapies."

Stevens also revealed that this has kept him out of the promotional cycle for his upcoming album, and he has spent most of his time in the hospital in recent weeks.

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Sufjan Stevens shares details about his diagnosis

In the lengthy Tumblr post, Sufjan Stevens revealed details about his rare auto-immune disease and also gave his fans some insight into what he went through in recent weeks, including how he simply lost control of his legs one morning.

Stevens wrote:

"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. 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."

He continued:

"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....It’s a slow process, but they say I will ‘recover,’ it just takes a lot of time, patience, and hard work. Most people who have GBS learn to walk again on their own within a year, so I am hopeful. I’m only in my second week of rehab but it is going really well and I am working really hard to get back on my feet."

Stevens shared that he was transferred to acute rehab on September 8 and he's “now undergoing intensive physical therapy/occupational therapy, strength building” to learn to walk again.

According to Mayo Clinic, the disease currently has no cure, and it is not exactly known how this disease is contracted.

Hopefully, Sufjan Stevens will be able to make a full recovery and return to his life of touring and making music.

Javelin will be Stevens' first solo album since 2020.