It’s unlikely to come as a surprise that behind the megawatt smile of the 33-year-old Strictly star is a heart of gold. But there’s also a core of steel – and a powerful, perceptive voice on the way we treat those who are unwell
When she answers my phone call from her West Midlands kitchen, pottering while roasting a chicken, Amy Dowden is having a good day. ‘I get tired really easily,’ she says, adding, with a note of quiet satisfaction, ‘but today, I feel like Amy.’ Yesterday was another good day. ‘It was so much fun,’ she says, of wafting around an ethereally lit north London studio, clad in layers of pastel chiffon to capture the images for her first Women’s Health cover. The rest of the week’s plans – yesterday rendered only in pencil – have now been firmed up. ‘My oncologist said my bloods are back to normal, so I can go ahead with chemo on Thursday,’ she says matter-of-factly. I ask how it makes her feel. ‘Obviously, you dread having chemo because it makes you ill – but I’ve got to have it. So ultimately, [you] just [want to] get it done.’ Our cover star is in the thick of bi-weekly chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer. But you probably already know that.
Since she announced her initial diagnosis of grade three breast cancer in May, the 33-year-old professional dancer and Strictly star has become one of the UK’s most recognisable – and rooted for – patient advocates. Her regular updates, shared with more than 600,000 Instagram followers, have allowed us to follow her story almost as it happened: when she had to have a mastectomy; when a second tumour was found in another part of her breast; when – after her first round of chemotherapy – she went into septic shock, an episode that her doctor described to her as life-threatening. She’s startlingly real about how the experience has been affecting her emotionally, too. In a video posted to her Instagram page in September, which has been viewed over 3.4m times at the time of print, we see Amy taking selfies with friends and family before a hairdresser takes, first scissors, then a razor, to her shoulder-length brunette bob; we see Amy wafting away tears as she readies herself to look at her new reflection; we see Amy attaching a breast cancer awareness pin to her jumper before turning towards the mirror and smiling.
Just two weeks after posting that video – and one week before our cover shoot –Amy made history. When she walked out on to the shiny floor of the Saturday night show she’s poured her heart into since 2017, she did so without her wig. ‘I took my scarf off because I felt so hot in the [Strictly] studios. And then no one batted an eyelid at me
