When Strictly Come Dancing ’s Amy Dowden was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer at 32, she suddenly faced the “most petrifying” time of her life. The newly married dancer went from preparing for rehearsals to sobbing through chemotherapy and freezing her eggs after entering medically induced menopause. Now, the Welsh star is sharing her harrowing health journey in a new BBC film, which documents her cancer diagnosis and treatment over the last year.
“When you’re told you’ve got cancer, in a click of the fingers, your life changes,” Amy says. “You have everything stripped away from you. I had my dancing taken away from me, what I love most in the world .
” Amy was filming her BBC series Dare To Dance when she was diagnosed in April 2023, and decided that the crew – who also worked on her Crohn’s documentary – should film her treatment process. “After my Crohn’s documentary, I knew the impact that made and how it made me accept my condition for the first time,” she says. “If it can raise awareness and 10 people start checking themselves from watching this documentary, I could potentially save a life,” she adds.
“It was daunting and I did have friends and family saying, ‘Are you sure you want to do this?’ But it gave me a focus throughout all of this.” The professional dancer was dealt another blow to her health just months later when she was diagnosed with “another type of cancer”, which required chemotherapy. This meant that she had to pull out of the 21st series of Strictly Come Dancing .
“I was scared. I was emotional. I didn’t want to do it.
I wanted to be at Strictly with my best friends who were sitting in rehearsals,” she admits. “I didn’t want to lose my hair.” It was Amy’s best friend Jenny – who had breast cancer herself – who helped the Strictly star through treatment.
“I don’t think I would have gone through those doors of chemo if it wasn’t for Jenny,” Amy says. “She kept telling me I can do this, saying, ‘Look at me now.’ It was the most petrified I’ve ever been in my entire life.
” Strictly Amy: Cancer And Me follows Amy as she undergoes fertility treatment after the cancer threw her future family plans with husband Ben Jones into jeopardy. “I had a hormone-feeding cancer, so they needed to put me into menopause because my hormones were feeding the cancer,” she explains. Amy chose to preserve her eggs before undergoing chemotherapy, which “destroys a lot of cells” in the body.
“Your eggs, your ovaries, everything can be damaged and not necessarily reboot again. Since we got married, the question we’re asked the most is, ‘When are you going to have kids?’ and my body can’t go through that right now,” she adds. “You produce so many hormones when you’re pregnant, I’d be at such a high risk of my cancer returning.
Of course we want children, but we still don’t know. There are so many options, which we’re grateful for.” Amy admits that one of the hardest parts of her cancer journey was watching her family suffer.
However, it has taught her who she can rely on. “You really learn who your true friends and family are during this time and I’m so lucky to have the best,” she says. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to pay them back for it.
” Throughout the toughest times, it was Strictly Come Dancing that motivated Amy to keep going during the treatment. “When I’m dancing, I forget all my worries, stresses and pain in life,” she says. “ Strictly is something I worked all my life for and I wasn’t going to let cancer stop me from going back.
I need that goal and purpose because I’m not sure what I would have done otherwise.” In February this year, Amy received the news that there was no sign of disease – and says that the “relief was immense”. Now, she’s returning to Strictly for the 20th anniversary and can’t wait to get back on the dance floor.
“It feels like my first year again. I’m excited to see the whole team, for costumes, for dance routines, to meet the celebrities, the judges,” she says. “I am buzzing.
Everyone’s laughing at me because I am just smiling constantly.” While her health is now back on track, Amy says that she’s learnt so much from her fellow cancer sufferers after connecting with the community online. “Nikki, a remarkable young lady in her thirties, who I connected to online, unfortunately passed away from breast cancer during my treatment last year,” she says.
“She always said, ‘Go grab life,’ and that’s what she did. I’m determined to live by her motto. I’ve learnt that appearance really doesn’t matter.
I had my hair, my eyebrows, my eyelashes stripped away from me. I gained two stone in weight, I was on steroids, chemo, had a broken foot – you name it. Your soul shines through.
I was stripped bare and still accepted. I’ve learnt to love and appreciate every single moment even more in life.” Strictly Amy: Cancer and Me airs Monday 26 August at 8pm on BBC One.
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