While Grey had continued to work in the years since her 1987 car accident, there were lingering injuries that only continued to worsen. In an interview with People, Grey described "headaches that lasted four days" due to the degenerated ligaments that had ripped in the accident. While Grey tried to get along with just Advil and ice packs, she was approached multiple times to do Dancing with the Stars. Although she had said no more than once, she finally agreed at the encouragement of friends Michael J. Fox and Jamie Lee Curtis. To do that, she needed a physical. 

The doctors discovered she had a compressed spinal cord, which meant that all it would take to lead to paralysis was "one slip, one fall, one minor rear-end." Grey's doctor ordered two spinal surgeries. During these surgeries, her doctor became worried about a lump she had previously been told was a benign thyroid nodule. Turns out, it was full-blown thyroid cancer. This led to two more surgeries to have her thyroid removed entirely. 

Luckily, Grey did not require chemotherapy or radiation and after those four surgeries she has a titanium plate in her neck and is cancer-free. With a relative clean bill of health, she decided it was time to finally tackle DWTS. Grey told Good Morning America, "I do feel that just the movement towards the joy, in spite of the fear, was a very important shift for me."