Dancing With the Stars pro feared she would 'never dance again' after shock health diagnosis at age 15

Dancing With the Stars pro Rylee Arnold said she thought her dancing career would be over after she'd been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when she was 15.

'Right when I was diagnosed, I didn't think I was going to dance anymore,' the Provo, Utah native, 21, told US Weekly on Wednesday. 'I thought I was going to have to stop doing it and fully just devote my life to managing my health.'

Arnold told the outlet that she eventually realized she could continue dancing after it was 'really hard in the beginning' dealing with the diagnosis as a competitive teen dancer.

She opened up about realizations she had as she treated the illness at a young age.

'There'd be times where, I mean, as a teenager, I would be embarrassed to give myself a shot in front of friends at school or at dance,' Arnold said. 'And there were just little things that I was like, "If I don't prioritize this, I will not live a long and lengthy and beautiful life."'

The Daily Mail has reached out to representatives for Arnold for further comment on the story. 

Arnold said that it 'was really, really important' in 'just balancing that and learning how to balance' her life following the diagnosis.

She said that since starting on Dancing With the Stars in 2023, she's felt 'really focused on balancing that and having that healthy balance.'

Arnold said that over the past six years, she's reached a level where she understands 'how to manage' life with type 1 diabetes.

'Even more so now, I feel like I finally am at a point,' Arnold said. 'It's taken … a while to understand your body and how it works.

'So it was about six years it took me to really, really get adjusted [and] understand how I react to things, how my body reacts to things, and I finally feel like I'm, like, ready to go.'

Arnold told the outlet that she uses a Dexcom G7 CGM device to keep track of her glucose levels.

The apparatus, which utilizes an insulin pump, is worn on her arm and issues real-time info to the Dexcom Follow app on her mobile device.

Arnold said that she's gained knowledge and comfort in knowing that she's not alone in managing the ailment.

'I looked at other people with type 1 diabetes, and I have learned so much through TikTok and Instagram, people's videos,' she said, 'and although my body is my body and it's different from everyone else's, there are so many people's experiences that are so similar to mine, and I've been able to learn so much from others.'

She said that after it had been initially 'super-hard,' seeing how others manage their health in similar situations 'has helped tremendously.'

Arnold added: 'It's one of those things. It's just like you go through it, you figure it out and see how you can do it yourself.'

The dancer said it was a difficult call to take a break from the show's tour last fall to address her health issues.

She told the outlet, 'Making the decision to step away from tour this last year was really hard, and because it was because of my health, it made me really sad.

'But it was something I needed so badly. I needed to get home. I needed to rest.'

Arnold said that using 'a continuous insulin pump' and monitoring her health stats has made things more amenable for her in balancing her health with her dance career.

'Just fixing that part of my life is going to make things so much easier this season,' she said. 'I'm just excited to have that, like, alleviated a little bit because I hate when that adds to my stress and just makes things so much harder.

'But I feel like I worked so much on, like, my mental health and my physical health this season, and I was able to just get ready for that.'

She said that the self-care was instrumental in preparing her for 'this season coming up,' as she feels 'excited' and 'refreshed.'