Strictly Come Dancing’s Amy Dowden has delightedly told fans she is feeling ‘really, really good’ since her last bout of chemotherapy – shortly after revealing she nearly died due to the side effects of her breast cancer battle.
Taking to Instagram on Thursday, the Welsh professional dancer, 33, thanked fans for their support before revealing she was in positive spirits and had applied make-up for the first time since her most recent round of chemo.
The star, who was acting to raise awareness for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, said to the camera: ‘I’m feeling really, really good today… Obviously I’ve had some symptoms, especially my bones but I’m feeling really good…
‘On a side note, this is the first time I’ve done my make-up since last chemo and I’ve lost a lot of eyebrows but I got them microbladed. But my eyelashes are holding out. I’ve got some gaps but I’m making the most of it.’
Prior to her latest update, Amy recalled her terrifying near-death experience in an interview telling how after her first and second round of chemo she was rushed to hospital with sepsis and then blood clots.
On the up: Strictly Come Dancing ‘s Amy Dowden has delightedly told fans she is feeling ‘really, really good’ since her last bout of chemotherapy – shortly after revealing she nearly died due to the side effects of her breast cancer battle
Happier: Taking to Instagram on Thursday, the Welsh professional dancer, 33, thanked fans for their support before revealing she was in positive spirits and had applied make-up for the first time since her most recent round of chemo
Sweet: Amy wore a fluffy pink hoodie pulled over her head for the video and showed off her radiant complexion while speaking to the camera
Amy wore a fluffy pink hoodie pulled over her head for the video and showed off her radiant complexion while speaking to the camera.
She then urged followers to check their breasts and admitted: ‘Come on, I never thought at 32 I’d get diagnosed with cancer and my whole life just be put on a stop for these months. Please, that’s how I found it, because I was checking so please.’
Amy said: ‘Hello everyone, thanks again for all the messages asking how I’m feeling. I’m feeling really, really good today. I actually slept all the way through them giving me the chemo. There’s like four hours and I had the best sleep…
‘Obviously I’ve had some symptoms, especially my bones but I’m feeling really good. I’ve come on to remind you all it’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Come let’s all do what we can to raise awarness… Get to known your own breasts…
‘Get a mammogram. Come on, if you’re not checking who is. Come on, I never thought at 32 I’d get diagnosed with cancer and my whole life just be put on a stop for these months. Please, that’s how I found it, because I was checking so please…
‘On a side note, this is the first time I’ve done my make-up since last chemo and I’ve lost a lot of eyebrows but I got them microbladed…
‘But my eyelashes are holding out. I’ve got some gaps but I’m making the most of it. I really happy with that, it’s the little wins. Literally not leaving you alone today am I?…
‘You can tell I feel good. But I’m so excited because today feels like Christmas Eve for me because tomorrow I’m collecting something. I’ll share with you tomorrow.’
Amy was diagnosed with the disease in May and has been undergoing treatment over the summer and recently broke down as she shaved her hair off.
She told The Mirror of her hospital dashes: ‘After both my first cycles I developed the life-threatening side-effects that can come with chemo, so I had it all in the first month.
‘I had a temperature and didn’t realise the severity of having a temperature. I stood up, collapsed, Mum rang the emergency number and they said ‘phone an ambulance immediately’. From there everything got very serious.
Scary: Amy was diagnosed with the disease in May and has been undergoing treatment over the summer and recently broke down as she shaved her hair off
Health: She recalled her terrifying near-death experience in a new interview telling how after her first and second round of chemo she was rushed to hospital with sepsis and then blood clots
An honour: Amy was plugging Breast Cancer Awareness Month
‘I remember going into hospital and them telling me I had an infection, but the following day it got very bad, I was unresponsive to antibiotics for hours.’
‘We met the paramedics a week later and they said if I had gone to bed that night I might not have woken up the next morning.’
She added that her last memories were of being surrounded by doctors and then a nurse explained she had gone into septic shock.
Her blood pressure was so low that her vital organs would have started failing.
Amy can’t recall much from her time in intensive care but told how her infection markers were at ‘dangerous levels’ until antibiotics sorted things out.
The sepsis was caused by an infection she picked just up before her treatment.
Amy was then unlucky again on her second round as she suffered from blood clots in her left arm because of complications caused by her port which administers the chemo drugs.
She is now on blood thinners now for six months after the ‘frightening’ experience.
Amy also told how she at first wanted to refuse chemo as it would be ‘Strictly, her hair and her life gone’ but was ultimately persuaded to do it.
Tough: She told The Mirror of her hospital dashes: ‘After both my first cycles I developed the life-threatening side-effects that can come with chemo, so I had it all in the first month’
Shock: She said: ‘We met the paramedics a week later and they said if I had gone to bed that night I might not have woken up the next morning’
Treatment: Amy underwent IVF to create and freeze embryos before starting her treatment with hopes to have children with her husband Ben Jones in the future
Amy underwent IVF to create and freeze embryos before starting her treatment with hopes to have children with her husband Ben Jones in the future.
A friend told her there was no point in her freezing her embryos as if she didn’t have the chemo she wouldn’t ‘be around to have these babies anyway’.
It comes after Amy returned to Strictly for one night on Sunday amid her breast cancer battle.
The star took to Instagram on Sunday to share a carousel of images from her comeback, showing her cosying up to co-stars after she attended the pre-filming of the result show’s opening number ‘a few weeks back’.
In the sweet pictures, Amy, who bravely shaved her head after her hair began falling out from her chemotherapy last month, beamed alongside pals Dianne Buswell, Nikita Kuzmin, Katya Jones, Carlos Gu and Nancy Xu.
In a caption the star lauded the ‘Strictly Family’, writing: ‘It’s moments like this I need right now, escaping me from my now at the moment reality and I’m so thankful to the entire @bbcstrictly for this… I’m so lucky to be surrounded by so much support’.
As well as her sweet message to her co-stars, Amy admitted she is ‘dreaming of dancing again every night’ and said watching the show is ‘escapism’.
Amy looked radiant in the series of images from her return, which came from the pre-recorded dance segment of the weekly results show.
In her caption she penned: ‘Tune in tonight for the first results show of the series! The standard this year is insane. What a great two live shows so far…
‘I was lucky to be able to be there for tonights opening number a few weeks back and all I can say is WOW!…
‘What another incredible number created by @jasongilkison. It’s moments like this I need right now, escaping me from my now at the moment reality and I’m so thankful to the entire @bbcstrictly for this. Hoping to back with the gang real soon…
‘There’s no text book or right/ wrong way to deal with your cancer journey. Everyone deals with it rightly their way. I’m so lucky to be surrounded by so much support which I don’t take for granted and days like here is what keeps me going..
‘I’m dreaming every night of dancing on that floor again but right now I’m my fellow pro’s proudest and biggest cheerleader. Who’s your fav so far?! #strictlycomedancing #forevergrateful #strictlyfamily #support’.
Amy was diagnosed with the disease in May and has been undergoing chemotherapy treatment. She said watching the show has been a real ‘escapism’ from her reality and she is counting down the days until she can return.
Amy recently broke down in tears as she shaved her hair off after chemo caused her locks to fall out in clumps. She took the brave step of cutting the rest of it off herself as it’s the one thing she can control.
A video posted on her Instagram page shows her loved ones taking turns to snip of locks of her hair before the rest was shaved off. She explained: ‘Taking control – the hardest step so far. I tried my best to save it…
‘I know it’s only hair but these past few months I’ve had what feels like so much taken away from me that has made me not feel like Amy…
‘I’m missing every possible aspect of dancing. I just wanted to keep my identity with my hair and I tried telling myself it wouldn’t go. But I would dread the pain of waking up to the shredding every day.’
She went on: ‘I’ve not been able to take control of this journey so far, but as you can see with some of my loved ones I took the courage and CONTROL…
‘It’s going to take some time to get use to and learn to love and embrace but, I’m now focussing-not on the hair I’m losing but the hair I’m going to get back and the happy dancing, tea lover who talks way to fast whilst rolling every rrrrr who is still there inside with or without hair!’
Amy – who has now reached the halfway point in her chemotherapy treatment – added: ‘Since taking control, I feel I can now see the finish line…
Illness: The Strictly favourite was diagnosed with breast cancer in May and began chemotherapy after doctors discovered she was fighting another type of cancer too
Looking forward: The dancer, who has been forced to sit out the 2023 series of Strictly, said she wanted to reclaim her identity after missing so much of her life as a dancer (pictured in January 2023 on the Strictly live tour)
Emotional: Last month, Amy called cutting her hair off ‘the hardest step so far’ as she posted a heartbreaking video of herself surrounded by loved ones as her hair was cut off
‘This for me was a hurdle I couldn’t even bring myself to think or speak about. I’ve done it and I’ve also crossed the half way chemo line!
I’m feeling empowered and positive! To everyone on their own journey, whatever that maybe, I’m sending love, power, strength and courage…
‘I found my courage for this step and I’m proud … (There are some fun before and after vids/reels coming, but I wanted to share the truth and hopefully help others, and bring normality to a beautiful bald head).’
It came after Amy admitted she was having ‘meltdowns’ over her hair loss.
