Sarah Jakes Roberts is counting herself lucky after a split-second trampoline accident nearly changed her life forever.
According to People, the 37-year-old pastor, author, and daughter of Bishop T.D. Jakes revealed on Sunday, April 19, that she fractured her neck while playing with her daughter, Ella, and came dangerously close to being paralyzed.
In a photo posted from a hospital bed, Roberts appeared wearing a neck brace and made clear just how serious the situation had been.
"Last night was scary. I was almost paralyzed, but God didn’t see fit to let that be my story," she wrote.
According to Roberts, the accident happened while she and Ella were playing a game on a trampoline. She landed directly on her neck and immediately heard "several pops."
Ella called her father, Touré Roberts, who then contacted 911. After being taken to two different hospitals and undergoing several scans, doctors discovered Roberts had fractured her neck, suffered multiple herniated discs, and damaged areas of her spine that came frighteningly close to leaving her permanently paralyzed.
"One disc up or one disc lower, and this would’ve been a different testimony," Roberts wrote.
Doctors have ordered her to wear a neck brace for the next four to six weeks to stabilize the injury and prevent additional damage. For now, Roberts says she is focusing on rest, recovery, and staying off her feet.
Less than two years ago, Bishop T.D. Jakes suffered a massive heart attack while preaching at The Potter’s House in Dallas. The 68-year-old pastor later revealed he had been just minutes from death.
"Five minutes later I’d have been dead," Jakes said at the time.
That health scare prompted a major transition inside the Jakes family’s ministry. In 2025, Bishop Jakes stepped back from leading the 30,000-member church day-to-day and named Sarah Jakes Roberts and her husband, Touré Roberts, as the new senior pastors of The Potter’s House.
Beyond the church, she has built her own following through books, speaking engagements, and her wildly popular Woman Evolve movement. She previously admitted that taking over for her father felt "terrifying," saying no one could step into that role without feeling pressure.
Still, if her message is any indication, she is determined not to let the accident define her.
"I’ll be lying low while I navigate this injury with wisdom," she wrote, before adding one last line that sounded more defiant than defeated: even with the neck brace, she is "still the birthday."
