Strictly Come Dancing professionalAmy Dowden has spoken about her current cancer status after suffering some health scares recently.
Amy, 35, appeared on The Dr Hilary Show podcast, where she shared her happiness over being in remission, but went on to explain that doctors had recently found "specks on my other breast".
In recent years, Amy has been open about her battle with breast cancer following her diagnosis in May 2023, when she was just 32. Said diagnosis led to her missing out on that year’s edition of Strictly, and resulted in her undergoing both chemotherapy and a mastectomy.
In the months since, Amy has inspired thousands of people with her fight against breast cancer. Speaking to Dr Hilary, Amy said: “Touch wood, no evidence of disease. I’ve had some scares with specks on the breast, on my other breast which has not been pleasant.
“I’ve had more biopsies done on that breast....There is breast cancer in the family, so big decisions need to be made now, in the future. I’m in very, very good hands.”
As well as discussing the impact of the disease, Amy has also talked about the pressure and “strain” she put on herself to get back to the dance floor.
In a previous chat on the Breast Cancer Uncovered podcast Amy, who also has Crohn’s disease, spoke about her drive to get on with her life as soon as possible.
Amy said: “When I was told I needed a mastectomy, I straight away said, 'can I have both off?' What I didn't want was to get back on with my life and for [the cancer] to come back in the other breast, I didn't want to come back and deal with it. I wanted to get on with my life.”
Amy also talked about the sudden shock of finding her diary empty because of the disease, and the realisation that the recovery would take longer than she thought.
She explained: “All of a sudden my diary was blank because I was cancelling dance shows, I was cancelling up and coming work. And I didn’t know, was I going to be dancing again?
“Was I going to be working again? It was a very scary time and you don’t know when you are going to get back to full health. There is no guarantee you will.
“For me, if somebody who had such a full-on loaded diary to all of a sudden then to be cancelling everything and not know when your life was going to resume was, for me particularly, really tough.
“I thought that was it. Life was going to resume. I didn’t realise that hard slog then of recovery and how long that actually took."
Amy managed to recover and compete in the current series of Strictly. However, she and her celebrity dance partner Thomas Skinner were the first couple to be eliminated in week two of the show.
