Days of our Lives: Joy FAKING Injury to SNATCH Alex?

Days of Our Lives had big drama this week when Joy Wesley (AlexAnn Hopkins) got out of her back surgery and just can’t feel her legs. And at first, it was supposedly the anesthesia that had to get out of her system. And now it looks like something else.

It looks like the surgery failed her. And Alex Kiriakis (Robert Scott Wilson) is right there comforting Joy. But is she tricking Kayla Brady (Mary Beth Evans) and playing with Alex? We are going to get into whether Joy is legit paralyzed or if this is just a scheme she’s cooked up against Stephanie Johnson (Abigail Klein).

Days of our Lives: Joy’s Terrifying Diagnosis

So, Joy found out after her fender bender that not only did she get whiplash. But she also wound up with spinal stenosis. But it didn’t show up right away. It wasn’t until she had that intense arm pain when she was trying to pick up Kelsey that Javi Hernandez (Jacob Martinez) and Rafe Hernandez (Galen Gering) noticed what was going on and rushed her over to the hospital.

And once Kayla heard Joy’s symptoms, she was pretty sure that the numbness and tingling in her arms and hands was spinal stenosis, and a scan proved that Kayla was absolutely correct. So since then, Alex has been Kelsey’s single parent caregiver since Joy’s hospitalization, and it’s been hard on him. But Joy’s been happy that Stephanie is under orders from Alex to stay away from Kelsey while he and Joy have been hammering out their custody agreement.

Joy Firces Alex’s Hand on DOOL

And then right before surgery, Joy strongarmed Alex into signing a custody agreement to keep Stephanie away from Kelsey. So, Stephanie was shocked to find out she can’t get any closer than ten feet from Alex’s daughter for the next twelve months.

And then Joy will re-evaluate and see if she still feels like Stephanie is dangerous. But Kayla and Stephanie feel like Joy is just kicking the can down the road. That way she can have lots more time with Alex. Of course, her rival Stephanie won’t be around them. And that also means that all that time that Joy spends with Alex is time that he is neglecting his marriage.

We’ve all seen Joy’s cutesy little 1950’s daydreams and the most recent nineteen eighties sitcom daydream. And the theme is always exactly the same. We’ve got Joy imagining a world where she, Kelsey, and Alex are a happy family and Stephanie’s out of the picture. And Joy even admitted to Kelsey she would like that traditional family with her and Alex and their daughter.

Philip is on to Joy on Days

But Joy’s not fooling Philip Kiriakis (John-Paul Lavoisier) or anybody else. He suspects Joy’s trying to steal Alex from Stephanie. Plus, Philip found it odd that Joy doesn’t want her mom Nancy Wesley (Patrika Darbo) or her dad Craig Wesley (Kevin Spirtas) or her sister Chloe Lane (Nadia Bjorlin) to come help take care of her.

Joy wants support only from Alex. There’s actually been recent talk that Sofia Mattsson may possibly play a recast Chloe Lane when she arrives in Salem early two thousand twenty-seven. So, it is possible that Joy’s sister could come to town as part of a paralysis storyline.

Days of our Lives: Joy Wants Alex to Care for Her

Right now, Chloe’s on a singing tour and Joy claims she doesn’t want Chloe to miss out on the work opportunity just because she’s having surgery. But it makes no sense. Because Nancy and Craig could come. They’ve got free time. And now it looks like Joy may be paralyzed from the waist down as a complication of her spinal surgery.

Kayla said there was a very small chance that could happen during the routine surgery. But Joy’s medical team said everything went really well. When Sarah Horton (Linsey Godfrey) and Alex were in the room for her after Joy woke up from surgery, she noticed she couldn’t feel her legs. And Sarah reassured Joy it was likely side effects of the anesthesia still working their way out of her system. And they talked about how it might be spinal swelling.

But it wasn’t too long after that when it was Kayla in the room and she was the one checking Joy over after the anesthesia should have been out of her system. So Kayla was testing Joy’s reactions and we saw her claiming to Kayla that she still couldn’t feel her legs and then she was crying and clinging to Alex. So, the question is whether Joy is faking her paralysis. She was told before surgery there was a slight chance of that complication.

Days of our Lives: Joy Playing Alex?

And in the official Days of Our Lives spoilers for Fall, Stephanie gets more suspicious of Joy just as she’s upping her game. So, Alex winds up further torn between Stephanie and wanting to be there for Joy and Kelsey. And in another spoiler for Days of Our Lives, it says it looks like Joy is about to get what she wants. But then Alex stuns her. So, it wouldn’t be a stretch if Joy is faking paralysis to keep Alex by her side. Plus, Kayla told Joy not feeling her legs doesn’t automatically mean she’ll have long-term paralysis.

So, it could be that Joy is faking paralysis from the get-go to try and keep Alex nearby. Because they were just talking about Joy getting out of there and Alex being able to go back to his life. Or alternately, it could be that Joy gets the feelings back in her legs and decides to fake ongoing paralysis. And I have no doubt that she can pull it off. Remember, Nancy got Joy a role on Body and Soul.

Days of our Lives: Joy Plays the Part

So, Joy is an actress and she may have already researched how to pretend to be paralyzed as if she was preparing for a role. Faking injuries is common on soaps. And since her dad is a doctor, Joy might have grown up playing with medical instruments and knows how to disguise her reflexes like with a little rubber hammer. And if she is faking trying to keep Alex close, it wouldn’t be the first time somebody in Salem faked paralysis.

If you remember, it was, I think, early 2008, Marlena Evans (Deidre Hall) injected Stefano DiMera (Joseph Mascolo) with a whole bunch of drugs to fake a cardiac stroke. And that caused indefinite paralysis. But Stefano regained his ability to speak and move. And he was finally able to escape his hospital room, which made John Black (Drake Hogestyn) think that Stefano had been faking his paralysis symptoms all along.

Days of our Lives History of Faked Injuries

And there have been other Salem residents who were paralyzed and later regained their ability to walk. If you remember, that’s what happened with Paul Narita. He had an injury in 2018. And then also in 2024, we had Sarah Horton being hit by a car. But she was later treated with a special Dr. Wilhelm Rolf (Richard Wharton) serum that helped her specific spinal problems.

So, if Joy is truly paralyzed, it may not be forever. But based on the Fall spoilers, I tend to think she’s faking. Theresa Donovan (Emily O’Brien) faked a leg injury. She even had a cast and crutches trying to get sympathy from Brady Black (Eric Martsolf) and he later busted her. And of course, we know Stephanie will trigger Alex if she suggests that Joy is faking.

It’s going to have to be Alex himself or Philip or one of Joy’s family members that busts her for him to believe it. There’s also the question again of whether Alex is or is not the father of little Kelsey and Joy somehow faked paternity tests. Because she wanted Alex. So Joy could be faking several things soon.

Days of our Lives: Joy’s Up to No Good

Alex just learned about Joy’s paralysis. So we’ll have to wait and see if she’s lying and is doing it to sink her claws into Alex and make Stephanie look like a loser if she suspects her of this deception. We may see Joy secretly toe-tapping or standing up while Alex isn’t around and she needs to reach something.

Based on the Fall spoilers, it sounds like Joy’s up to something. And I think fake paralysis makes sense. And judging by these spoilers, Alex will be the one to figure it out and he may even trick her or Stephanie might. Since the spoilers say Alex surprises her, you know, he might just dump Joy out of her wheelchair to see what happens. But either way, I’m looking forward to it.