‘DWTS’: Witney Carson Opens Up About Her Cancer Battle

“I finally got this call that was going to just skyrocket my career,” Witney, now 28 years old, confessed to PEOPLE. “It was my dream.”

But then doctors diagnosed her with melanoma just before she was supposed to head to Los Angeles to film Season 18. Witney went through two surgeries to get rid of the cancer and they were successful. But at the time, she was absolutely terrified to share her diagnosis with anyone on DWTS.

“All of a sudden I get diagnosed with melanoma and of course, being myself, I’m like ‘It’s fine. I can still go on the show,'” Witney continued. She continued to say that it felt embarrassing to be so sick as a professional athlete. “…I was supposed to be doing all the right things to be an athlete, and so it was embarrassing for me to be like, ‘Yes, I had, I was sick. I was literally sick.’ The producers didn’t know. My partner didn’t know. I wanted people to think I was perfectly healthy.”

The pro dancer performed even while recovering from her surgery

Witney’s melanoma was heavily involved in her foot, but that didn’t stop her from performing.

“They took an inch diameter around the mole on my foot as well as all of my lymph nodes in my left hip,” the Season 19 champion continued. “It was just spreading so quickly and they had to get rid of the lymph nodes and there was lots of healing time. I think I took six weeks and then I went straight to Dancing With The Stars. My foot was wrapped. I still had stitches in it.”