My dream of being on Strictly came true. Then I got cancer, had a mastectomy and nearly died from sepsis. But the thing that made me cry most isn't what you'd expect...

EXCLUSIVE My dream of being on Strictly came true. Then I got cancer, had a mastectomy and nearly died from sepsis. But the thing that made me cry most isn't what you'd expect.

.. By Amy Dowden Published: 02:03 BST, 11 August 2024 | Updated: 02:03 BST, 11 August 2024 e-mail View comments I recall them vividly – the days before everything changed.

Fizzing with happiness, I waved a thick folder of documents and printouts at my husband of eight months, Ben. 'Passports, tickets, hotel reservations..

. we're all set!' He eyed me with amusement. I was sitting in a sea of discarded clothes on our bedroom floor, next to a suitcase spilling over with bikinis and sundresses.

'Are you sure about that?' he said. It was April 2023. I was 32, and this was our honeymoon I was packing for.

Our wedding had been the year before, but our schedules had been so busy, we'd not had a chance to go yet. It was going to be a luxury, once-in-a-lifetime holiday in the Maldives, with gorgeous food, gorgeous weather and – best of all – pure me and Ben time. But first we had to get through a busy weekend in Blackpool, where some of our students were competing in the 2023 British Open Formation Championship.

In 2016 – a year before I began as a professional dancer on Strictly Come Dancing – Ben and I fulfilled a dream by setting up our own dance academy in the West Midlands, and this was one of the highlights of our year. Strictly professional Amy Dowden was diagnosed with breast cancer, had a maste.