'Dancing With the Stars' Favorite Reveals Hospitalization After Surgery Takes 'Scary Turn'
Victoria Arlen battled back from a tough health challenge.
A Dancing with the Stars favorite is opening up about her week-long hospital stay. Victoria Arlen went to Instagram last month to detail the health scare following a scheduled surgery. She revealed that "things took a very scary turn" and "knocked me off my feet to say the least."
"First Day wearing 'real' clothes in a week," the ESPN personality shared in an Instagram post. "Thank you to the amazing nurses, docs, surgeons and my family who took amazing care of me and helped me get back on my feet. And thank you everyone for your messages and prayers … it means more than you know."
The details of her surgery and complications are not known. However, the 29-year-old's health history has been well-documented as she was diagnosed with Transverse Myelitis and Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis at the age of 11, which led to her losing the ability to talk, eat, and walk. Arlen spent the next four years recovering and then won a gold medal at the 2012 Paralympic Games.
In 2015, Arlen joined ESPN at 20 years old, making her one of the network's youngest reporters ever. She competed in Dancing with the Stars in 2017 and finished in fifth place. Arlen also wrote an autobiography titled Locked In, which was published in 2018. The book led to ESPN Films producing a 30 for 30 film called Locked In, which is based on her story.
In a 2023 interview with PEOPLE, Arlen talked about having a relapse of the disease in March 2022. "The whole right side started to droop," Arlen says. "All my internal alarms were going off. I knew something was seriously wrong." Arlen went to the hospital, and the doctors confirmed she was relapsing. "They said, 'We have a very short window before you could end up completely paralyzed—or worse,' " she says. "I'm lying there thinking, 'I can't die like this.' I prayed harder than I've ever prayed before. I was like, 'No, God. This isn't how the story is supposed to end.'"
During her time on ESPN, Arlen has hosted the television, international and Snapchat versions of SportsCenter as well as ESPN digital programs, including SportsNation, Hoop Streams, TUF and Caps Off. She has also been a fill-in host for First Take and is a reporter for the X Games and Special Olympics.
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