Getty Images
‘Dance Moms’ Alum Abby Lee Miller Reportedly “Can’t Walk at All” Amid Cancer Battle
This is absolutely devastating. Former Dance Moms star Abby Lee Miller has dealt with a slew of scary symptoms since leaving prison back in March, including a random bought of paralysis originally thought to be a spinal infection. Sadly, it was revealed in April that she had been diagnosed with Burkitt lymphoma, which is a rare form of non-Hodgekin's Lymphoma, a cancer that has developed in her immune cells.
And now, after being seen in a wheelchair outside her rehab center, it's being reported that Abby may never walk again. "Abby can’t walk at all," the source told Radar Online. "Her mind is so sharp, but she can’t move her legs. She has no mobility at all. She is going crazy." The insider added, "Everyone around her is encouraging her and making her feel like there is hope, but it’s not looking promising for Abby Lee to walk again."
Over the weekend, Abby shared a photo of herself holding a bracelet that said "Fall Risk." The captioned read, "If I Could FALL, I Would CRAWL To The MALL!"
On June 1, Abby also took to Instagram to share an update with her fans about her treatment. "Happy Friday!!! I should be planning a weekend of fun in the sun at the pool! There’s nothing I enjoy more than swimming and a good tan! Instead, I start round [three] of chemo… another battle that I must win!!!" she wrote on Instagram.
Abby's orthopedic spine surgeon, Dr. Hooman M. Melamed from Cedar Sinai Marina Del Rey Hospital, told People at the time that her symptoms increased very rapidly. Two weeks before her diagnosis, she was hospitalized for a thyroid condition. Then, beginning on April 17, she went to the ER for "excrutiating neck pain" and weakness in her arm. She quickly got worse, experiencing paralysis and needing an emergency laminectomy at 1 a.m. on Tuesday. The surgery required doctors to remove the back of several vertibrae so they could gain access to Abby's spinal cord and relieve pressure on her nerves.
Dr. Melamed said that once he consulted with an oncologist, they would come up with a plan for Abby's treatment, which included chemotherapy and may also include radiation and more spine surgery depending on the type and sensitivity of the tumor.
In the weeks since her diagnosis, Abby has been sharing updates of her cancer battle on Instagram. "She’s made some recovery in 24 hours, which is better than no recovery," he said. "Nobody wants to end up thinking they’re going to be paralyzed for the rest of their life. That’s a reality that’s facing all of these patients going into it. All you can do is pray and, as a surgeon, you maximize everything you can for the spinal cord to recover itself. I am hopeful." But that doesn't mean they're out of the woods. "There’s a chance this can spread to any part of the body… this is probably coming from somewhere else," he continued. "We don’t know where the source is. Any tumor that spreads anywhere is automatically Stage 4, but we have not determined the stage yet."
The timing is particularly devastating for Abby, since she just spent nearly a year in prison before moving to a halfway house in Van Nuys, CA. Before jail, she underwent a gastric bypass surgery and lost a ton of weight. She seemed excited to get back to dancing and teaching, and she was in great spirits just three days before being rushed to the hospital. "I’m so excited and I just can’t hide it, I’m about to loose control and I think I like it !?" she wrote. "I think you’re going to like it too!! Thank you all so much for the well wishes." We're thinking about you, Abby!
