NEWSAbby Lee Miller's Health Scare: 'Dance Moms' Star Reveals She Nearly Died in U.K. Hospital at the End of Her Tour
'Dance Moms' alum Abby Lee Miller revealed she nearly died while in the U.K.
Sept. 23 2024, Published 11:43 a.m. ET
Abby Lee Miller, who remains in a wheelchair after being diagnosed with Burkitt Lymphoma, a form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, got candid about how she nearly died this past summer.
"I was at the end of my tour," she said in a new interview. "We started at the Dance World Cup in Prague. I taught 13 classes and there were 9,500 kids there. From there we went to Scotland and then to Liverpool and then to London. I was leaving town the next day and I started having trouble with my catheter. It just needed to be changed. Every month I need to get it changed. I had a nurse with me, and she didn’t feel comfortable doing it in the room. I don’t know why, people do it all the time."
The star said she nearly died while on tour.
"So, I held off for a day, which was a mistake. Then my back started hurting and my kidneys. I was screaming in pain. My two assistants called the paramedics, and the paramedics came and they took me to the Emergency Department," she continued. "With the wonderful free health care there – it happens in every emergency room – I laid in the emergency room for five-and-a-half hours waiting for someone to change the catheter. I became sepsis, and it happened in my kidneys."
Miller, 59, didn't realize how serious the situation was. "They kept screaming my name: 'Abigail, Abigail, Abigail,'" she said. "I was like, 'I am right here. Stop screaming.' They were asking me questions and I was making fun of them. I was like, 'Why are we discussing this I just need my catheter changed? Can you get me out of here?'"
Abby Lee Miller said she was moving into the ICU for four days.
The reality star was supposed to be flying home the next day, but instead, she was moved into the ICU for four days. She was then hooked up to multiple IV lines in her arms and neck.
"I would look at the screen and it was a sonogram. The last time I did something like that it was for a blood clot. I thought to myself, 'Oh my God I think I have a blood clot,'" she said, admitting the moment was terrifying for her. It was later determined she had a UTI which led to her contracting sepsis.
Abby Lee Miller said her blood sugar dropped.
"I got a UTI," she said. "My blood sugar was dropping, and I went sepsis. Women need to be very careful because a UTI can do a lot of damage. It can do a lot of different things."
"It was very serious, and it can turn very quickly like that. If I would have changed the catheter the night before, none of this would have happened," she continued.
Though the incident was harrowing, she said she was able to meet with a "very influential top notch television station."
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- Abby Lee Miller Blames Prison as Reason Why She's 'in a Wheelchair': 'I Was Punished and Taken Off All My Medication'
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Abby Lee Miller was sentenced to one year and one day in prison in 2017.
"I was discharged on Thursday and on Friday I was in hair and make-up and on camera. I was just filming a fun silly stuff. But still, I snapped back," she shared. "I want to work. I like to work, and I feel like I have a lot to present to the world still. And I get the job done... My girlfriend from Pittsburgh told me, 'I have not yet decided you are the unluckiest person in the world or the luckiest in the world.'"
As OK! previously reported, Miller was sentenced to one year and one day in prison after being convicted of fraud in May 2017, followed by two years of supervised release.
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"But I filed [for bankruptcy] before the show ever started," she previously said. "Oh, that's why I'm in a wheelchair, because in prison I was punished and taken off all my medication, cold turkey."
Daily Mail spoke to Miller.
