Amy Dowden was left speechless when she got a breast cancer diagnosis at the age of 32. The Strictly Come Dancing star is recounting her cancer journey through her new documentary Strictly Amy: Cancer and Me, which she hopes will encourage people to check their breasts. Strictly professional Amy was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer back in May 2023, and later underwent a mastectomy but was told the tumours had spread.
Amy underwent chemotherapy and has documented her entire experience and ups and downs in her new BBC show. Viewers will no doubt be in tears at the raw and honest programme, which takes place over 15 months - and begins just six days after her diagnosis. Speaking to The Mirror and other press, Amy said: "I never thought at 32 years old.
I would be diagnosed with breast cancer. And if it wasn’t for the Coppafeel trip, I wouldn’t have ended up checking myself. "And if I hadn’t find the grade three, most aggressive type of cancer, then I wouldn’t be here right now.
I just want people to not wait until you’re in your 50s and have mammograms. You need to be checking yourself. And if just ten people from watching this documentary check themselves, I could potentially save a life.
" Amy's documentary will show the highs and lows of her journey through cancer treatment and she is hopeful the programme will encourage other people to get themselves checked for breast cancer. "I wanted to show the reality of going through cancer treatment, what it's like having a mastectomy, losing your hair. Also the fertility treatment side of things.
So people are aware and maybe they know somebody going through chemotherapy for them to not be asking the question about children and to be a little bit sensitive about it. And also in this day and age, fertility is the big thing and people do need to be more educated on it," she explained. "I did my Crohn's documentary [back in 2020] and I think that's what gave me the courage and the confidence to do this one to raise awareness and break down stigma and what it did for me as well.
That's why I ended up doing my breast cancer documentary. I'm not sure I would have done had I not done the Crohn’s one before, but that's what gave me the courage." Amy will be back on Strictly Come Dancing later this year and described the show as her "saviour".
She said the hope of returning to the BBC show was what pushed her to get out of bed on her toughest days. *Strictly Amy: Cancer and Me will air on BBC One on Monday August 26th at 8pm. * Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .
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