EXCLUSIVE Strictly's Amy Dowden reveals how going bald on the BBC show during her cancer battle had a surprising impact on her wellbeing READ MORE: AMY DOWDEN: 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: 21:10 EDT, 11 August 2024 | Updated: 21:10 EDT, 11 August 2024 e-mail 23 shares View comments Everything changes when you get a cancer diagnosis.
It pulls the floor from right under you and affects your whole outlook on life. Before I was told I had breast cancer in the spring of 2023, I was fulfilling every single one of the dreams I'd had as a little girl who loved to dance. My diary was crammed with filming for Strictly Come Dancing, where I was the only British female professional dancer, as well as with lessons at the dance academy my husband Ben and I founded in 2016 in the West Midlands.
All of it came to a grinding halt. First I had a lumpectomy, followed by a single mastectomy, radiotherapy and tamoxifen. And then, when the tissue analysis revealed there were two kinds of cancer in the same breast, a course of chemotherapy, which frankly terrified me.
The truth was, I really dreaded losing my hair. Your hair is your femininity, your identity – and I wanted to stay looking like Amy even if everything else about me felt different. Growing up in Caerphilly, Wales, I was a super-girly girl who loved glitter and pink feath.