Dr. Hooman M. Melamed, who has been treating the star, says that the 'Dance Moms' alum will 'undergo chemotherapy or radiation.'
- Apr 19, 2018
AceShowbiz - This is surely devastating. Abby Lee Miller has been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma just one day after undergoing emergency surgery for what was initially thought to be spinal infection. It is a type of cancer that develops in the lymphatic system.
"It was not an infection, it was a type of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma -- it's a type of cancer," Dr. Hooman M. Melamed, who has been treating the star, reveals to PEOPLE. "We're getting an oncologist involved and we have to figure out what the next steps are as far as chemotherapy or radiation or more spine surgery."
He continued, "Depending on the tumor type, depending on the sensitivity of the tumor -- it just depends the type but I feel more than yes, she will undergo chemotherapy or radiation."
Miller went into emergency room after she experienced "excruciating neck pain" and weakness in her arm. Unfortunately, her condition started deteriorating so fast that she was completely paralyzed from the neck down. Thus, Melamed performed emergency surgery on Tuesday, April 17.
"If we didn't do something, she was going to die. Her blood pressure was bottoming out. She was not doing well," the doctor said, before admitting that he had "no idea" what caused Miller's health to fail so rapidly.
Miller was hospitalized recently for a thyroid condition two weeks after she was transferred to the Residential Reentry Center in Long Beach. Her former prison consultant and coach, Jennifer Myers, previously revealed that things are "a bit more restricted" in the halfway house than in prison.
"The halfway house is not a fun place to be. The men and women are segregated, but she will be with women she does not know," Myers explained. The "Dance Moms" alum is set to leave the halfway house on May 25.
