Amy Dowden says she’s ‘stronger than ever’ ahead of Strictly return after breast cancer battle and being forced to quit
STRICTLY star Amy Dowden said she’s feeling “stronger than ever” as she prepares for return to the show after battling breast cancer.
The professional dancer, 34, revealed she had cancer in May 2023, before going into remission a year later.
Amy, who joined Strictly Come Dancing in 2017, needed a mastectomy and underwent chemotherapy and was unable to compete with a celebrity partner on Strictly in 2023.
But now the ballroom star has said she’s feeling “stronger” amid her ongoing recovery from cancer as well as the foot injury she sustained last year which forced her to quit that series.
Amy will be returning to Strictly later this year for the new series and has recently been filming Channel 4 show Celebrity Hunted with best pal and fellow Strictly pro Carlos Gu.
Despite her health being in a better place now, the dancer admitted she had experienced the “hardest time” after she completed her cancer treatment.
“I was so lucky with my friends and family; they rallied around us, but there’s so many people who told me they didn’t hear from anybody after they rang their bell – they thought they were fine,” Amy told the Mail.
“But little do they know, that’s the hardest time, because that’s when you’ve had all your chemo, that’s when you’re really struggling to walk up the stairs and really feeling the impact of a cancer treatment and diagnosis.”
In May, Amy revealed she was at the hospital for scans – two years after being diagnosed with breast cancer.
She revealed she was at the hospital to have scans to make sure her cancer hasn’t returned.
Sharing the moment, the dancer posted a picture of herself in a medical gown.
Amy wrote over the top of the picture: “Scan 1 done. now for my MRI.”
CANCER DIAGNOSIS
Amy was told by doctors that she had aggressive stage three breast cancer in May 2023.
The diagnosis came after she married her pro dance partner Ben Jones in 2022.
Speaking in her BBC documentary Strictly Amy: Cancer And Me, she said: “At the beginning of 2023 I felt like everything I’d ever hoped for was falling into place.
“Ben and I got married, I was teaching at the dance school, I was going to be back on Strictly and all of a sudden my everyday life changed.
“To be 32 with breast cancer, you’re thinking, ‘This doesn’t look good — the outlook doesn’t look good’.
“The first time I felt the lump in my breast was the day before we went on honeymoon.
“I just knew, I felt sick to my stomach.
“I saw the doctor, and he told me they’d found something. I said, ‘Is it cancer?’ and he said, ‘Yes’.
“I think for me, I thought I was safe until my 50s when they start doing my mammograms. I didn’t think it would ever affect me.”
However, Amy thrilled fans when she revealed she was cancer free in February 2024.
STRICTLY RETURN
Last year, Amy delighted fan when she returned to the Strictly dancefloor.
She was partnered with JLS star, JB Gill.
Sadly, just weeks into the show Amy had to pull out of the competition after she was rushed to hospital.
The emotional star told ITV‘s Lorraine at the time: “I am going to do my best not to cry,” yet tears filled her eyes as she said: “I am gutted it’s had to end this way.
“I feel I have let JB down.”
What are the signs of breast cancer?
BREAST cancer is the most common type of cancer in the UK.
The majority of women who get it are over 50, but younger women and, in rare cases, men can also get breast cancer.
If it’s treated early enough, breast cancer can be prevented from spreading to other parts of the body.
Breast cancer can have a number of symptoms, but the first noticeable symptom is usually a lump or area of thickened breast tissue.
Most breast lumps aren’t cancerous, but it’s always best to have them checked by your doctor. You should also speak to your GP if you notice any of the following:
- a change in the size or shape of one or both breasts
- discharge from either of your nipples (which may be streaked with blood)
- a lump or swelling in either of your armpits
- dimpling on the skin of your breasts
- a rash on or around your nipple
- a change in the appearance of your nipple, such as becoming sunken into your breast
Source: NHS