Professional dancer Amy Dowden will return to Strictly Come Dancing this series following her stage three breast cancer diagnosis and gruelling treatment last year
Amy Dowden has endured so much since she last stepped foot on the Strictly Come Dancing dancefloor.
The 33-year-old professional dancer discovered a lump in her breast just before jetting off to the Maldives for her honeymoon with her husband and fellow dance pro, Ben Jones. She announced back in May last year that she had been diagnosed with stage three breast cancer and was unable to take part in the most recent series.
But now, after having a mastectomy, completing her chemotherapy treatments and being given the all-clear, Amy will compete again for the glitterball trophy. She shared an emotional message on social media following the BBC’s announcement and said: “I’m so happy and grateful to be back on @bbcstrictly. MY HEART IS SO HAPPY.”
Amy continued: “The best team on and off the dancefloor. I can’t wait to be back doing what I love most in the world, dancing! Feel blessed and more excited than EVER. Bring it on! Thank you @bbcstrictly for your support always. Eeeeeekkk. #amysback #strictlycomedancing #letsdothis #excited #cantwait #myheartissohappy.”
In a recent interview, Amy reflected on the past year and explained that her cancer journey is still ongoing. She told BBC Breakfast: “I can’t believe it’s a year since I found the lump. But I’m just so grateful in the year for the treatment I’ve had, the NHS, and all the charities, everybody that’s helped me to be still here today.
“I was actually at the oncology unit yesterday, having my monthly injection, which I will need for five years… But I’m just so grateful to get another shot at life. but I never thought in a million years at 32, that I’d be diagnosed with breast cancer.” She revealed that she has been working hard to get back in shape for her much-anticipated return.
“I’m working really, really hard and getting my body fully back in rehab and physio, I’ve got a brilliant team,” Amy said. When asked who has supported her, Amy added: “I’ve got amazing friends and family. The oncology unit, the nurses, the breast nurses, and also the public support has been incredible. And I think the goal and the dream to be back on the dancefloor as well, because I’ve missed it so, so much.”
Back in April, Amy hosted a dance class for women undergoing cancer treatment on The One Show and shared how difficult it was to lose her hair from chemotherapy. She said: “Taking the decision to shave my hair off was definitely the hardest step to take throughout my whole cancer journey but I wanted to be in control.”
It was chemo that Amy found the most difficult to come to terms with. She previously told the Mirror: “I thought that’s Strictly with a partner wiped out, that’s my hair gone, that’s my life gone. I was like, I don’t want to do that.” Amy was adamant that she didn’t want to do it – until her former dance teacher stepped in.
She was undergoing IVF to create and freeze embryos, hoping she and Ben might still have children, when her teacher was brutally honest. “She gave me tough love and said, ‘What’s the point of these embryos if you’re not going to have chemo? Because you won’t be around to have these babies anyway’,” Amy recalled.
Amy finally decided chemo was right. But sadly, her first and second cycles didn’t go to plan, resulting in emergency hospital stays and life-threatening complications. First came sepsis, then blood clots. “They said my blood pressure was that low my vital organs would have started failing,” Amy said of the first cycle. “We met the paramedics a week later and they said if I had gone to bed that night I might not have woken up the next morning.”
In November, Amy told fans she was “proud of herself” as she shared a health update after ringing the chemotherapy bell, marking the end of her treatment. In a heartfelt post, she opened up about the milestone moment, alongside a video of her hugging multiple hospital staff before ringing the bell as she teared up.
She said: “I rang the bell and I’m so thankful I got to! My toughest journey yet! These past few months I look back and think ‘How did my body get through this both physically and mentally?’ From the words, ‘I’m so sorry Amy, it’s cancer’ and ‘What’s your fertility plans?’ to having a mastectomy, two weeks later hormone daily injections for egg retrieval, a little Crohns flare up, and then on to chemo plus shutting down my ovaries on the same day which sadly lead to sepsis, blood clots, losing my hair, my eyebrows, lashes (I have a few hanging in there) and three toe nails.”
Amy continued: “But also it’s taken away my love of life these past few months and of course my DANCING! It’s been tough. But hopefully has now given me chance of more life which I’m eternally grateful for and I will never take for granted again. I’ll never be the same Amy again but, what I do know is I’m so much stronger than I ever knew and I have made the most amazing friends along the way.”
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