After completing several rounds of chemotherapy and undergoing a double mastectomy, professional dancer Amy Dowden had hopes of flying back onto the dance floor – only to encounter more challenges than she ever dreamed of.
Describing the hurdles she has to jump after completing her treatment, she found herself at an “all time low” after losing her hair, going through the menopause and most crushingly, not being able to dance.
Dowden, 34, is a professional ballroom and Latin American dancer, who is a series regular on BBC Strictly Come Dancing. In 2023, she was diagnosed with grade three breast cancer after finding a lump in her breast the day before she went on her honeymoon.
Two years on, Dowden spoke with The Mirror about the shock she felt coming to terms with life after treatment. “I thought my life was going to get back to normal,” she told the publication. “I was deluded.”
“I honestly thought that I’d be back dancing on Strictly in no time and that my hair was going to grow back far quicker than it did. I thought that I’d be back to the old Amy, and it hit me really hard.
“I was scared and petrified. It was a very daunting, difficult time as well as being put into menopause.”
Many cancer treatments, including chemotherapy, can induce early menopause, also known as premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) in women. Treatments can damage or disrupt the ovaries’ ability to produce hormones like estrogen, leading to menopausal symptoms.
“I started IVF treatment two weeks after the mastectomy,” Dowden added. “I was still recovering from surgery and then that was another journey. And then two weeks after I started chemo.”
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Amy Dowden in the BBC documentary Strictly Amy: Cancer and Me.
Dowden’s recovery was born under a bad sign, as only a few day’s after she’d rung the bell she broke her foot, compounding on fears she could never dance again.
“A few days later I broke my foot,” the 34-year-old explained. “I felt more of a cancer patient than ever. I felt isolated and lonely. And I didn’t know what my life ahead was going to be.
“When I finished treatment, I actually hit an all time low. I went from this super fit young lady used to the spotlight and hair and make up to not liking to look in the mirror.”
Despite her cancer and injury to her foot, her passion for dance never wavered, and was a guiding light through her recovery process.
“There was a voice in my head saying, ‘Cancer can’t take away your dancing’,” she said.
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Amy Dowden is a regular on BBC Strictly Come Dancing
Due to the risks of her treatment triggering her body to enter early menopause, Amy had IVF treatment between her mastectomy and chemotherapy.
Despite managing to freeze five embryos, Dowden cannot undergo any further steps to becoming a mother as the hormones she has to be required to take may increase the risk of her cancer returning.
“I always wanted the honour of being a mother,” Dowden explained. “My oncologist said he won’t speak to me about it yet. It’s too soon.
“We were lucky enough to get five embryos, but right now, it’s still too soon. I only finished active treatment just over a year ago. My body has just got to recover first, hopefully.”
Amy also acknowledged she returned to Strictly far too early, and pushed her body beyond its limits, but firmly believes getting back on the dance floor was essential for her mental health.
“I went back to Strictly far too early last year because I just wanted to get what I thought was my normal back. I needed it mentally to go back, otherwise I don’t think I would have ever gone back. I needed that normality,” she said.
“I couldn’t have watched another series from the sofa. It was killing me. Physically I wasn’t ready, but I thought I was.
“The BBC put so much in place to ease me back in gradually and I’m so grateful for them and they constantly had my best interests at heart.”
With the new series looming, Dowden said she is fitter than ever and ready to return to the dancefloor.
The 23rd season of the popular dancing show will return this Autumn on BBC One.