Abby Lee Miller is making big strides!
During an appearance on The Doctors on Tuesday, the Dance Moms star – who underwent emergency spinal surgery last year, was diagnosed with Burkitt lymphoma, and has been confined to a wheelchair since April 2018 – shocked viewers by standing up and taking her first steps in public.
“We’re in a position where her spine is stable so that’s an important part of recovery,” Miller’s oncologist, Lawrence Piro, said. “That’s really good news. Secondly, the surgery happened very quickly, so the time of pressure on the spinal chord and the nerves was as minimized as possible. And every evidence is that she should be able to recover. But I think that the most important ingredient in her recovery, and what is going to determine her possibility for the future, is her own ability to work at rehab. Three weeks ago we replaced her knee so that would stop being an impediment to standing, bearing weight and walking.”
“She’s powered through,” he continued. “She’s been rehabbing for three weeks since that knee [surgery] so I want to put this to the real test. I want to see if she can see if she can stand on her own with all of us.”
While the crowd applauded, Miller asked the audience to “put your hands together and pray.”
“This is scary, you have no idea,” she added.
With an tremendous amount of support and cheers from the crowd, Miller was able to stand up and take her first steps in public.
In May, Miller opened up about her painful journey and revealed she was cancer free.
“The cancer is completely gone,” Miller previously told PEOPLE. “I’m more than grateful. I’m thankful. I was always grateful but I think I must say ‘Thank you’ a hundred times a day because I have to rely on strangers; someone to open the door, someone to get the hanger off the rack at the department store, someone to pick up my phone if I drop it. How am I supposed to get it? I’m very grateful and thankful to strangers that have been so kind.”
In April 2018, after undergoing the emergency surgery for what was initially thought to be a spinal infection, the reality star was diagnosed with was diagnosed with Burkitt lymphoma, a form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. In the year since, she has undergone ten rounds of chemotherapy and months of rehabilitation in hopes of walking again.
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“I pushed through because I feel like I have more to do,” she previously said. “I want to be an executive producer. I have three other shows and a cartoon that I’ve created. I want to do what I really do — I create. I can make something magical and wonderful out of nothing. I do it every week.”
“I have goals,” Miller continued. “I have dreams and I want to see them come to fruition. I want to retire and want to be able to live out my days financially secure. That’s what everyone wants.”
In May, Miller told PEOPLE she was “hopeful” she would walk again.
“If I can move, I can stand,” she said, slowly moving her feet while in her wheelchair. “I’m supposed to stand three times a day for twenty minutes. I can take a right step because I can put my weight on my left knee then when I take a left step my right leg just crumbles because I need a knee replacement.”
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