Amy Dowden took to her Instagram on Friday to share with her followers a huge health update one year after her breast cancer diagnosis.
The Strictly Come Dancing professional, 33, – who was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer in May last year – shared with her followers a throwback snap of herself laying in a hospital bed.
The snap was taken on the same day of her first surgery following her cancer diagnosis and Amy bravely gave a thumbs-up to the camera.
The dancer shared the huge milestone with her fans by saying,: ‘Can’t believe it’s a year since surgery! Happy 1st birthday to my new cancer-free boobie!!!’
While her original post was captioned with: ‘Step one to beating cancer! Rrrrrrready for this fight and more determined than ever to get back on the dance floor’ (sic).
Amy Dowden took to her Instagram on Friday to share with her followers a huge health update one year after her devastating cancer diagnosis
The Strictly star, 33, – who was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer last year – shared: ‘Can’t believe it’s a year since surgery! Happy 1st birthday to my new cancer-free boobie!!!’
She shared the image with her fans to mark one year since her diagnosis and how far she has come in her cancer journey.
It comes after the star revealed in March she became ‘unresponsive’ and developed sepsis shortly after receiving her cancer diagnosis.
Amy from Caerphilly, has previously spoken about developing the infection after she began chemotherapy for stage 3 breast cancer in May 2023.
However, speaking on Andy Coulson’s Crisis What Crisis? podcast, the dancer revealed doctors had told her parents Gillian and Richard and her husband Ben Jones she was ‘unresponsive’ after going into septic shock.
Things were so bad, Amy’s mother was warned at the time her daughter would not be able to function for more than 16 hours before her organs would begin to fail.
Thankfully, Amy shared some brilliant news in March claiming her latest scan has revealed no sign of cancer in her body.
However, as she discussed the details of her health battle she revealed just how serious her condition had become at the start of her treatment.
The dancer revealed her battle with sepsis came shortly after her first round of chemotherapy after she collapsed at home on a Saturday afternoon.
It comes after the dancer announced in May last year that she had been diagnosed with stage three breast cancer
Within her very honest post, Amy urged her fans to check their breasts as she claimed at the time she is determined to get back on the Strictly dance floor
‘There was a lot to get my head around,’ she said, discussing how the diagnosis and the treatment had affected her mental health as she grappled with losing her hair and the seriousness of her illness.
As she was put in the ambulance to go to A&E, Amy recalled feeling ‘scared’ because she’d been injected with bone marrow that morning and had ‘no white blood cells’, meaning there was a risk of picking up an infection if she went into hospital.
Amy revealed she was reluctant to go to the hospital but had been ‘encouraged’ by paramedics to get in the ambulance – and shortly afterwards, she took ‘a turn’.
The dancer was admitted immediately with an infection with her family around her, but later in the evening doctors assured them Amy was ok and they could go home.
However, the following morning when Amy’s husband called the hospital to see how his wife was doing, he was told: ‘The doctor wants to speak to you.’
Ben, who was with Amy’s parents at the time, put the phone on loudspeaker to hear the doctor’s update – but the news was devastating for the family.
Upon being told their daughter had sepsis, Amy’s parents ‘broke to the floor’ – because Amy’s aunt had died of the blood infection just a year earlier. The doctor also revealed she had a blood clot on her lung and was ‘unresponsive’ to treatment.
Amy said: ‘My parents went into meltdown mode, Ben went into protection mode of them, and when they got to the hospital I wasn’t in the room.
‘I was having an emergency CT scan and the doctor had just said to me – my mum had to walk away.
‘My husband said that he’d said my heart rate and my blood pressure was so low that I probably wouldn’t function more than sixteen hours, my organs would go into failure. They felt I’d gone into septic shock.’
Amy explained the intensive care team had been drafted in to look after her, however thankfully, she began to respond to new antibiotics.
She recalled the moment she woke up with her family around her, saying: ‘I saw the pain in my parents’ eyes, and I don’t think they’ve been the same since.
‘It was so tough for them to have watched that, especially after what we’d been through with my auntie. And yes, I don’t think they’ve been the same or never will be the same again.’
It comes after the dancer announced in May last year that she had been diagnosed with stage three breast cancer and was unable to compete in the most recent series of Strictly Come Dancing.
The diagnosis came a month after Amy found a lump in her breast the day before she was set to jet off to the Maldives on her honeymoon with her husband Ben.
The star later underwent a mastectomy and has since completed her chemotherapy treatments.
