Strictly's Amy Dowden hints at huge career move after 'life-changing' health battle
Strictly Come Dancing’s Amy Dowden has survived a gruelling few years but now says that her experiences have made her “see life in a different way" as she considers a new career in the future.
The Strictly dancer was diagnosed with grade III breast cancer in May 2023, before doctors spotted "another type of cancer,” a couple of months later. The twin diagnoses forced her miss out on the upcoming season of Strictly.
Now, Amy says, she’s daring to think about the future again. She told Heat Magazine: “At the moment, I'm absolutely loving dancing, and that's where I want to be. But I would love to do some more presenting.”
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She added: “Having cancer has completely changed me - it's made me see life in a different way. It's made me realise that I need to grab hold of life and take every opportunity.”
Just two days after starting chemotherapy, Amy was diagnosed with the potentially-deadly infection sepsis. "I wasn't feeling too bad that day, just sick, but a couple of hours later I started having a temperature of 37.7C," she told Hello! Magazine.
"At the time,” she added, “I didn't realise that having a temperature of 37.5C or above could be fatal for a chemo patient. I just thought it was my reaction to chemo, but as it turned out, I had already got an infection."
That infection led to a dramatic period in hospital: “"The doctors and nurses were telling me I had sepsis and that it was life-threatening but I wasn't taking it in,” she said. “I didn't become properly aware until later.”
Doctors managed to get the sepsis under control, but 34-year-old Amy’s trials were by no means over. After losing her hair through chemotherapy, she bravely made a cameo on Strictly without her wig.
But a few months later, Amy sustained a broken foot and was unable to take any further part in that year's series of Strictly.
There’s some light at the end of the tunnel, though. Amy’s most recent check-up showed "no sign of the disease", doctors say, although she stresses that she won’t get an official "all clear" for five years.
