LIFESAVER
‘Strictly saved my life’ says Amy Dowden as she opens up about moment she discovered lump in her breast
The dancer discovered the lump the day before she flew off on honeymoon with husband Ben Jones, early last year
AMY Dowden has opened up about her breast cancer journey as she reveals that Strictly Come Dancing saved her life.
The 34-year-old appeared on ITV’s This Morning as she prepares to return to the BBC ballroom show after receiving the all clear from doctors, following a grueling 18 months of treatment.
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Having been paired with McFly star Tom Fletcher in 2021. Amy became firm friends with the star and his wife Giovanni, who got Amy involved in the coppa feel cancer awareness campaign soon after his stint on the show.
Now Amy reveals that it was her involvement in the charity led to her own diagnosis.
Speaking to Craig Doyle and Sian Welby on the sofa she said: “I was paired with Tom Fletcher on Strictly and The Fletchers welcomed me into their family home and became really close to Giovanna Fletcher and she got me on the Coppafeel trek.
Whilst I was there I felt like a hypocrite and I thought, “I am here getting everyone to Copafeel and to check their chests and I don’t check myself. Then a few months later, I unfortunately found a lump. So really Strictly saved my life by pairing me with Tom Fletcher, because had I not been checking I wouldn’t be sitting here right now.”
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But Amy added that she found the lump the day before she went on honey moon with her husband Ben Jones in March 2023.
She said: “It was the day before my honeymoon that I found it and I still went on my honeymoon. Then I went to the GP when I got back.
The professional dancer was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer twice last year and has opened up about her experiences in a documentary that it set to air on BBC one tonight called Cancer and Me.
The star also talks in depth about her journey in her new book Dancing in the Rain, which is available to buy now.
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Speaking on This Morning, the dancer says that she still has her monthly injections that she’ll need for the next five years, but otherwise she is cancer free.
She said: 'I still have my monthly injection and I will do for the next five years but at the moment my tests are good, everything is positive.'
Indeed, as she prepares to made her emotional return to Strictly Come Dancing Amy later this month, Amy, who also suffers from Crohns disease, says that she now finally feels more human.
She said: She said: 'What was really tough last year was watching my best friends dancing on Strictly and I just wanted to be there with them.'
When probed, she refused to reveal who her celebrity partner is for the 20th anniversary series, but gushed: 'Yesterday my family came and watched me dance for the first time since'.
Later adding: 'I can't say too much but I'm dancing again a very special number and the boys came and picked me up at the end and run me off the floor. It was so emotional and so lovely. It was so surreal and I just can't stop smiling.'
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