"Mostly Paralyzed but Happy to Be Alive"

Editor's note: If and when you have a "fall", it can be serious business. Very serious. That's why, at our age, we must do all we can to maintain our physical health and fitness. But if you do have a fall, how will you respond?

This article is about talk radio host and PragerU founder Dennis Prager, age 77.

Dennis Prager

He suffered a severe, debilitating fall at his home in late 2024, resulting in a spinal cord injury in his neck. The accident left him paralyzed below the shoulders but he still had his cognitive abilities. For the first three months, he was on a full ventilator and unable to speak, communicating primarily with a laser pointer. As of early 2026, he is continuing rehabilitation, focusing on his "unbreakable spirit" and continuing to engage with his audience.

Below is a status report of his condition back in May 2025, which was challenging:

Prager wrote an article about his experience in the Wall St. Journal on February 26, 2026. His story is below.

"I wrote a book called “Happiness Is a Serious Problem” in 1998, which stressed two important insights. First, happiness isn’t to be awaited but must be pursued. Second, expectations are a major impediment to happiness. They undermine the greatest source of happiness: gratitude.

The more you expect, the less grateful you will be for what you have; the less you expect, the more grateful. In 100 or so talks I’ve given on happiness, I said, “While I have good reason to assume I will be healthy tomorrow, I do not expect to be. I may have a heart attack or discover a cancerous lump, or I may have a stroke, or some other life-threatening event or illness. As a result, I walk around every day with gratitude for my continued health.”

On Nov. 12, 2024, everything I wrote was put to the test. I had a catastrophic fall at home, which left me paralyzed from the shoulders down. The doctor at the hospital told my wife and son that I should be put on palliative care to make my final days as painless as possible. Truth be told, the fall should have killed me.

When it happened, my wife was in our upstairs bedroom, adjacent to the bathroom. Usually, she would already be downstairs. Had she not been there to see me fall and summon help, I would have been dead within minutes, as I landed in a position that cut off my breathing.

Tested as they were, none of my views on happiness changed. They enabled me to forestall depression. I still believe happiness isn’t to be awaited but must be pursued. And because I have almost no expectations, I am not battling traumatic disappointment.

I’ve experienced considerable pain, both physical and emotional. I’ve gone from broadcasting a daily radio show, writing a weekly column, flying to deliver at least one lecture a week, and taking at least one listener cruise a year to a bedridden life. These monumental changes arrived in a split second, and I’ve replayed the fall in my mind countless times.

My condition has reinforced what matters most in my life: my wife, children and grandchildren, my friends, my mind and my mission to deliver ideas that better people’s lives. Why haven’t my views on happiness changed? Because I’ve never believed happiness is solely a function of what happens to us. Catastrophic events will affect us. But even in dire circumstances, we can and should pursue happiness.

It would be easy for me to spend my time mourning. And who would blame me if I did? But my belief that happiness needs to be pursued benefits me and those around me. While my friends and family sympathize with my situation, they still prefer to be around me when I’m happier.

Life’s traumas come in many forms: the loss of a child, divorce, drug addiction, illness, financial disaster and depression. It’s human to mourn one’s situation, but it’s our responsibility to fight our way back to a happy life or at least to make the most of our situation. Life is too precious and too short for self-pity, even under trying circumstances.

Whenever I am tempted to consider the “unfairness” of my condition, I remind myself of the ways in which I have been “unfairly” fortunate all my life. Even at the moment of my fall, I had the good fortune of my wife’s presence, ensuring I received medical attention as soon as possible. It’s also remarkable, given that I sustained a hard blow to the back of my head, that I’ve been able to speak and maintain my mental faculties. Every doctor who has commented on my condition has described my ability to speak as “miraculous.” None of them were particularly religious.

From the day I regained consciousness, I realized I had only three alternatives: death, depression or perseverance. Since I don’t want to die and I don’t want to be depressed, my choice is obvious. I will continue enjoying my family and friends, resume broadcasting, write books and columns and produce more PragerU videos."

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