Dancing on Ice professional Alex Murphy has opened up about suffering a stroke at the age of 24, which nearly forced her to give up skating. The American figure skater, now 32, who won the 2020 series with Joe Swash, described the terrifying moment she collapsed after a performance on a cruise ship.
Murphy told Metro: '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.' She added that she had 'no idea what it was' and felt like she was having 'a weird out of body experience'.
Doctors were initially baffled due to her young age and good health, but tests in Miami revealed she had a condition called patent foramen ovale (PFO), a hole in the heart, which led to a blood clot on her brain. She was given two options: take blood thinners for life but risk bleeding out from an accident on the ice, or undergo surgery to repair the defect.
Murphy chose the operation immediately, as she had received an offer to compete on Dancing on Ice in the Netherlands. Just three months after recovering from the procedure, she won the show. She recalled: 'I could still skate but interviews were difficult. I would struggle if there was too much noise – the lights and sounds of the show could be difficult. To be honest though, that show had a massive impact on my recovery.'
The stroke also affected her speech and concentration; she had to relearn how to talk and write. She still experiences side effects, such as needing to read things repeatedly and struggling to focus. Murphy admitted she was 'ashamed' to share her stroke story while on the UK version of Dancing on Ice because she 'didn’t want people to know' about her heart condition.
Last year, Murphy was devastated after being axed from the UK series. In an Instagram statement, she said: 'It is with a heavy heart that I release the following statement... 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.' An ITV spokesperson said the team looks at the existing line-up and explores opportunities to introduce new faces each series.
