Abby Lee Miller's Miraculous Survival: Dr. Hooman Melamed Reveals the Medical Crisis That Nearly Took Her Life episode artwork

EPISODE · Dec 26, 2025 · 38 MIN

Abby Lee Miller's Miraculous Survival: Dr. Hooman Melamed Reveals the Medical Crisis That Nearly Took Her Life

from The Neil Haley Show · host Neil Haley

Dance Moms star Abby Lee Miller delivers shocking exclusive news about a brand-new injury that even her spine surgeon Dr. Hooman Melamed learns about for the first time during this live broadcast. Just days after successfully flying alone and walking down an airplane aisle sideways for the first time since her paralysis—a tremendous milestone in her recovery—Abby broke both her tibia and fibula in a freak pool accident while doing aquatic therapy at a hotel. The injury occurred when her leg twisted underneath her on the fourth step without even falling, requiring emergency surgery at Tampa General Hospital's level one trauma center. Dr. Melamed expresses complete shock at not being informed, explaining the unique challenges of operating on Abby's bones, which have become porous and brittle from chemotherapy damage, previously requiring cement reinforcement and large pelvic screws that are still causing her significant pain six months later.The conversation reveals the harrowing 2018 medical crisis that left Abby paralyzed from the neck down within 24 hours, requiring Dr. Melamed to perform emergency surgery at 11 PM that lasted until 5 AM. After being released from prison and visiting seven different doctors over seven consecutive days—all of whom dismissed her symptoms—Abby's condition deteriorated so rapidly that her blood pressure plummeted to near-fatal levels. Unable to lie flat for an MRI due to excruciating pain, doctors performed an emergency CT myelogram while she sat in an awkward position, screaming, which revealed her entire spinal canal was completely blocked across 12 segments by what everyone initially thought was an infection. Upon opening her spine, Dr. Melamed discovered Burkitt lymphoma—an extremely rare and aggressive cancer typically found only in young African boys, usually fatal within eight weeks, and so unusual in Abby's case that it warranted publication as a medical case report. The cancer had wrapped around her spinal cord like a chokehold, and Abby believes it was triggered when a prison doctor abruptly took her off all diabetes and thyroid medications cold turkey two months before her collapse.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-neil-haley-show--6503396/support.

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Dec 26, 2025

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Abby Lee Miller's Miraculous Survival: Dr. Hooman Melamed Reveals the Medical Crisis That Nearly Took Her Life

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