Strictly Come Dancing dancer says the show saved her life

Strictly Come Dancing star Amy Dowden has confessed she wouldn't be here today without the television show. 

The dancer, 34, was declared cancer-free early this year after being diagnosed with the disease in 2023.

Dowden found a lump in her breast and had to pause her role in last year's Strictly Come Dancing competition, occasionally making guest appearances as she received treatment. 

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The TV personality has addressed her diagnosis with Radio Times, revealing she owes the dancing show her life. 

"Ultimately, Strictly saved my life," she admitted while reflecting on when she worked with the breast cancer charity Coppafeel. 

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Dowden and her dancing partner Tom Fletcher braved a hike on the Pembrokeshire coast in Wales in 2022 to raise money for breast cancer research. 

The Strictly star says this work allowed her to better understand how to look after herself. 

"I was 32 years old. I was a physically fit dancer on Strictly, I'd just got married. Mammograms don't start until you're in your 50s," she confessed. 

"[But] I met some incredible people on that trip who'd had breast cancer in their 20s. I was thinking, 'I'm being a hypocrite, trekking to raise awareness for checking yourself, and I don't even do it!'"

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The experience led Dowden to regularly give herself self-examinations, and just months later, she found a lump and was diagnosed with breast cancer. 

In November 2023, Dowden took to Instagram to share that she had finished her chemotherapy and reflect on her cancer experience. 

"My toughest journey yet! These past few months I look back and think how did my body get through this both physically and mentally. 

"From the words I'm so sorry Amy, it's cancer and what's your fertility plans. To having a mastectomy, two weeks later hormone daily injections for egg retrieval, a little Crohns flare up and then on to chemo plus shutting down my ovaries on the same day which sadly lead to sepsis, blood clots, losing my hair, my eyebrows, lashes (I have a few hanging in there) and three toe nails 🤣.

Her post concluded: "Now please remember to check yourselves, if you aren't who is?!"

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