Strictly star Amy Dowden opens up on terrifying cancer diagnosis

Amy Dowden has revealed two tumours were removed during her breast cancer surgery.

The Strictly Come Dancing professional, 32, found out in May that she had stage three cancer and announced earlier this month that she had undergone a mastectomy.

Speaking to the Daily Mirror about how she is feeling post-treatment, Dowden said: “The cancer is in the lab now, which is the most important thing.

“The hardest time was waiting for surgery, thinking: ‘I have cancer inside me’.

“You’re thinking ‘It’s grade three, what if it’s spreading, what if it spreads tonight?’

“The feeling of it made me feel disgusted, disgusting. That’s the time I was randomly crying, emotional… but we drove away and I thought: ‘It’s gone’.”

The Welsh ballroom and Latin American dancer, who joined the BBC celebrity competition show in 2017, also said her doctors have reconstructed her breast during a three-hour surgery after her mastectomy.

She added: “Every day has got better in terms of soreness.

“I think how quickly I have felt myself again has made me feel more positive.”

Dowden – who was a finalist on Strictly four years ago with CBBC presenter Karim Zeroual – had revealed she had found a lump in her breast the day before she planned to go on a belated honeymoon with fellow professional dancer Ben Jones in April. They had married in July 2022.

The Caerphilly-born dancer has also been vocal in raising awareness of Crohn’s disease and plans to highlight the risks of breast cancer.

“I want to get people to check, and I wanted them to be aware of what they’re looking for,” she also told the Mirror.

Dowden said she is getting a test for a breast cancer (BRCA) gene which, according to the NHS, can increase the chances of cancer developing.