Amy Dowden on her joy at finding out she has no sign of breast cancer and how her love of dance has helped her through health struggles
WORDS: LAUREN MORRIS PHOTOS: ROWAN GRIFFITHS/DAILY MIRROR, STEPHEN HART/BBC
BEST FOOT FORWARD
In the past nine months, Amy Dowden has battled grade three breast cancer, undergone a mastectomy and chemotherapy, beaten sepsis and broken her foot – but her smile is brighter than ever, especially now she’s shared the amazing news that doctors have told her there is “no evidence of the disease”.
She posted on Instagram, “NO EVIDENCE OF DISEASE! Words I dreamed of! My biggest accomplishment yet! I won’t be getting the all-clear for 5 years especially with a hormone fed cancer. But it was all worth it. Words I never thought I’d hear at one point.
“So grateful for all the care I received and continue to have. To my husband, family and friends who supported me unconditionally and to you guys! Thank you! I will still need a monthly injection for 5 years and regular check ups. Chemo and this past year has certainly took its toll on my body both physically and mentally, so I’ll be taking the next few months to heal and recover.”
Ordinarily, the Welsh dancer would have just finished the Strictly Come Dancing Live! tour after yet another successful BBC series, but Amy had to sit both out due to her cancer diagnosis.
“I’m getting stronger day by day,” she says, sporting a buzz cut as her hair is growing back after her treatment ended in November. “I’m building up to get back on the dance floor.”
The 33-year-old Strictly star is back on BBC One Wales for the second series of Amy Dowden’s Dare To Dance, where she teaches extraordinary people the magic of movement.
From a Wrexham couple planning their upcoming wedding to a young woman who gave up dance after losing her sight, Amy helps many well-deserving folk feel comfortable on that ballroom floor in the four-part series.
It was while filming the show in May last year that she was given her breast cancer diagnosis, putting Amy in a tough position. “We started filming and I met all the contributors and asked them to take on this challenge,” she says. “I’d given them their first few steps and then I was diagnosed. But I was determined to keep the series going. For contributors Debbie and Chris, I’d just told them I was going to help them with their wedding dance. How could I take that away from them? I would feel so guilty and so bad.”
