Alex Murphy suffered a stroke at the age of 24 while working in Tenerife.
Alex Murphy
The former 'Dancing On Ice' pro skater, now 32, was skating on a cruise ship when she discovered something wasn't right.
She said: "I knew something was wrong the moment I stepped off the ice and tried to hang up my costume. I couldn’t lift my right arm – I thought that’s funny – then I couldn’t untie my skates or feel my foot. I had no idea what it was and felt like I was having a weird out of body experience. I started banging my hands on the sink to see if I could put life into them. I looked in mirror and didn’t recognise myself – I didn’t know I was Alex."
Despite her age and agility, the professional skater was having a stroke and collapsed in her dressing room.
She couldn't speak for hours and had to spend nine days in a Tenerife hospital.
Alex added: "In Tenerife, I was the youngest person in the hospital, no one spoke English. I sat there for nine days watching the same movie trying to get my speech back."
The star was eventually flown to a hospital in Miami where she was reunited with family and doctors discovered a hole in her heart which had led to a blood clot on the brain.
She added to Metro: "I had started to remember names 24 hours after the stroke. I wasn’t fully speaking in Tenerife, but
I could say yes and no and walk. When I left I mistook a table for a shoe and saw a dog and thought it was a monkey."
Alex was left with the choice of having blood thinners forever and giving up skating due to the risk posed by bleeding from an accident, or to undergo an operation.
She was due to star on the Dutch version of 'Dancing on Ice', but had the operation the very next day.
The star went on to win the Dutch version of the skating show which propelled her to starring in the British version of the series - which says played a massive part in her recovery.
In June 2020, Alex was left feeling "bewildered, lost, and devastated" after she was dropped from 'Dancing on Ice' - just three months after she and Joe Swash won the 2020 series.
She wrote on Instagram: "It is with a heavy heart that I release the following statement:
"For the last three years, Dancing On ice has not only been my job, but also what I considered to be my family.
"I am broken hearted to announced that I have recently been informed that I will not be re-contracted for Dancing On Ice 2021 series.
"This decision has come as a huge shock to me. I absolutely love the show and had hoped to go back for 2021. I have been left feeling bewildered, lost, and devastated.
"I am so grateful for the three years that I had on this incredible show and I will wholeheartedly miss everyone and everything about it. (sic)"