Abby Lee Miller's surgeon reveals that the star 'was going to die' following her spinal infection
Abby Lee Miller has a close call with death after she suffered from an extremely unusual spinal infection that left her paralyzed from the neck down. Talking to People, Dr. Hooman M. Melamed, an orthopedic spine surgeon, who had treated Abby revealed that she was rushed to the emergency room after she experienced “excruciating neck pain” and weakness in her arm.
Extra was the first to report the news stating that following an MRI scan it was revealed that the 'Dance Mom' star would need an immediate surgery. Hooman disclosed that Abby's health kept getting worse as days went by. Over the next two days, her condition started deteriorating,” he said of the time when Abby was in Cedar Sinai Marina Del Rey Hospital. "Not just her pain, but her weakness started getting worse. In the span of 24 hours, which was something that I have not seen, her condition rapidly deteriorated. She was completely paralyzed from the neck down.”
Hooman said that he tried to transfer Abby once he realized that her blood pressure began to bottom out, but he “felt if we tried she may not make it by the time she gets to another hospital.” He admitted that Abby found herself amid a situation that hadn't been witnessed before by the doctors.
“We did a CT and we saw what appeared to be an infection that had spread from the bottom of her neck all the way to the lower part of her back… which is extremely unusual,” he said. “If we didn’t do something, she was going to die. Her blood pressure was bottoming out. She was not doing well." He added that he had no idea that Abby's health will deteriorate so fast.
“There could be a million reasons of this. Normally, you see this in someone who is compromised, if they have diabetes or [are] a smoker or [have] heart problems, but that’s not really her,” he said. “She has a very well controlled diabetes, actually her numbers are in the pre-diabetic range so to see something like that, it is extremely unusual.” Since the surgery took place, Abby has been feeling better and is able to feel some amount of sensation. As for her recovery, Hooman stated that it depends on how fast her body recovers.
“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.”
“I think she’s a little bit more optimistic now because she’s feeling like she can move her arms, she has more sensation, she can feel her body now, she can feel her private area. That gives everybody hope," he continued. As of now, Hooman added that they would “start mobilizing her, start thinking about the rehab, start pushing the body, pushing the brain and spinal cord for making recovery.” Abby will be released from the hospital into rehabilitation by the end of the week of the weekend “assuming we’re not doing another surgery.”