After revealing her shock breast cancer diagnosis amy dowden on how support from husband ben and her ‘strictly’ family means everything

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW AND PHOTOS

H earing the words: “You need to get somebody here,” was the moment Amy Dowden realised quite how serious the situation was. Sitting alone with a nurse at an emergency referral after finding a lump in her breast, it was then that the Strictly Come Dancing star knew she had to have husband Ben Jones by her side.

And that is where he has been ever since, supporting her through the most emotional and challenging of times following her devastating diagnosis with breast cancer, which Amy, 32, revealed exclusively to HELLO! last week.

“Everything happened so fast that day,” Amy says.

“They told us that it was looking very suspicious and to prepare for the worst, hope for the best. They did the biopsy and then we had a wait.”

Amy has already inspired countless people with her steely determination in dealing with Crohn’s disease, the chronic gut condition she has battled since she was a child. And as her fighting spirit is tested more than ever, Ben – with whom she tied the knot in a romantic celebration in Wales last July – remains a pillar of strength.

“Amy has had a lot to deal with in her life and, as I expected, has shown great resilience in the past couple of weeks,” professional dancer Ben, 35, tells HELLO!, speaking publicly for the first time about the news.

“We are both surrounded by lots of family and friends who are going to be an important support to us in the coming months,” he continues. “We are both staying very positive and remain optimistic moving forward.”

“Ben only hears the positive and then he only talks about the positive side of things,” says Amy, who first met Ben on the dance competition circuit before romance blossomed when they became dance partners in 2011. “I’m going to be as positive as I can and I want everybody surrounding me to also be positive – that’s really important.”

SURROUNDED BY SUPPORT

There has been a tremendous outpouring of love from Amy’s Strictly “family” and the dancer tells us the support she has received means “everything” to her.

“The pros have been amazing,” says Amy, who gathered her co-stars to break the news to them in person last week. “They all told me how they would be there every step of the way until I join them on the dancefloor again.”

Amy’s close friend and fellow pro Dianne Buswell, who was one of her b