Amy Dowden's health battles revealed - and how she fought back

Strictly favourite Amy Dowden worried fans this weekend after she was rushed to hospital on Saturday night during filming. 

The professional dancer, 34, who was twice diagnosed with cancer last year, confirmed in a statement via her spokesperson that she was 'feeling unwell' and an ambulance was called as a 'precaution'.

A spokesperson has since confirmed that she is 'feeling much better' and would like to thank BBC fans and her Strictly family for supporting her.

But the much-loved star is no stranger to health struggles, which she has candidly discussed over the years. 

In May 2023 she revealed she has been diagnosed with breast cancer.

The then-32-year-old found a lump in her breast the day before going to the Maldives on her honeymoon with husband Ben Jones a month earlier in April 2023.

She admitted it wasn't easy to share the shock news but vowed to 'get back on the dancefloor'. 

Caerphilly-born Amy was diagnosed with grade three breast cancer, a term used to describe when cancer cells look abnormal and doctors fear they may spread more aggressively.

Around 55,000 women and 370 men are diagnosed with breast cancer each year in the UK, says Breast Cancer Now. 

Meanwhile, roughly 300,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer are diagnosed in women every year in the US.

Amy who joined Strictly in 2017, said the show saved her life because a breast cancer charity walk with Giovanna Fletcher, the wife of her dance partner McFly singer Tom Fletcher in 2021, prompted her to check her own breasts. 

She hoped surgery would solve it, but two months later in June 2023 was told doctors had found more tumours and 'another type of cancer'. 

She then underwent a mastectomy, chemotherapy and fertility treatment over nine months.

However, while she was undergoing cancer treatment Amy revealed she was nearly killed by sepsis. 

Two days after her chemotherapy treatment on August 3, 2023 she went for a walk with her parents before taking a turn for the worse. 

Her parents called an ambulance and Amy ended up in intensive care with a high temperature and was diagnosed with sepsis. 

Sepsis, is a life threatening reaction to an infection. It happens when your immune system overreacts to an infection and and starts to damage your body's own tissues and organs, the NHS explains. 

It can be deadly in otherwise healthy people but it is particularly dangerous for those undergoing any treatment that suppresses the immune system, such as chemotherapy.  

Eventually in February this year, Amy was told that she had no evidence of cancer.

She told fans on Instagram: 'No evidence of disease - words I've dreamed of.' 

She added: 'I won't be getting the all clear for five years - especially with a hormone fed cancer - but it was all worth it.'

The dancer now needs a monthly injection for five years and regular check ups. 

Read More

Amy Dowden's collapse: Fans pray for star's recovery as clips show her battling on during Strictly

It was announced in June she would return to Strictly's professional line-up for this year's series.

'I thought I'd just got my life back on track,' recalled Amy.

However, in August she revealed that she was rushed back to hospital for further tests as doctors were concerned about abnormalities in her breast after a check-up.

She said she was 'crushed' and had sleepless nights waiting for the news.

But when getting the all-clear from her consultant, Amy told him 'we haven't had good news much, so thank you.'

She had just danced in front of an audience for the first time in a year when the results of her annual MRI and mammogram put her 'back on hold'.

Tests revealed widespread calcium deposits in one of her breasts and doctors were worried it could be the 'precursor to invasive breast cancer'.

But the further tests proved that the abnormalities were benign changes and she was 'so relieved it was unreal'. 

The dancer has also been open about her health battle with Crohn's disease, which she was diagnosed with age 19 after being referred to a specialist in London. 

She'd been suffering from bouts of illness from the age of 11. 

The lifelong condition causes parts of the digestive system to become inflamed. For Amy this caused here to suffer with swollen eyes, mouth ulcers, constipation, pain, sickness and fatigue.

She now takes eight steroids a day to stay out of hospital.

In an interview with WalesOnline in 2020, Amy recalled how Crohn's affected her in her teenage years. She confessed that is was a 'roller coaster of emotions' and the 'hardest time' of her life. 

At the start of her dance career Amy said potential dance partners considered her a 'risk' to work with, over concerns that her Crohn's disease would impact their careers if she needed to take time out. 

She told Crohn's & Colitis UK that it was a relief to receive a diagnosis and added that 'Crohn's was never going to hold (her) back'.

'I just have to look out for the signs, which for me start with swollen eyes. Then I call my doctor,' she told the charity. 

'I have learnt to listen to my body, and to notice when things start getting out of tune. I know when I need to rest, and when I have to eat simply and drink lots of water.'

Amy, who is vocal about her battle with Crohn's, was the subject of a BBC documentary about the illness in 2020. 

'The film, which was called Crohn's and Me, subsequently won a BAFTA Cymru award.

Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world and affects more than two MILLION women a year

Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world. Each year in the UK there are more than 55,000 new cases, and the disease claims the lives of 11,500 women. In the US, it strikes 266,000 each year and kills 40,000. But what causes it and how can it be treated?

What is breast cancer?

It comes from a cancerous cell which develops in the lining of a duct or lobule in one of the breasts.

When the breast cancer has spread into surrounding tissue it is called 'invasive'. Some people are diagnosed with 'carcinoma in situ', where no cancer cells have grown beyond the duct or lobule.

Most cases develop in those over the age of 50 but younger women are sometimes affected. Breast cancer can develop in men, though this is rare.

Staging indicates how big the cancer is and whether it has spread. Stage 1 is the earliest stage and stage 4 means the cancer has spread to another part of the body.

The cancerous cells are graded from low, which means a slow growth, to high, which is fast-growing. High-grade cancers are more likely to come back after they have first been treated.

What causes breast cancer?

A cancerous tumour starts from one abnormal cell. The exact reason why a cell becomes cancerous is unclear. It is thought that something damages or alters certain genes in the cell. This makes the cell abnormal and multiply 'out of control'.

Although breast cancer can develop for no apparent reason, there are some risk factors that can increase the chance, such as genetics.

What are the symptoms of breast cancer?

The usual first symptom is a painless lump in the breast, although most are not cancerous and are fluid filled cysts, which are benign. 

The first place that breast cancer usually spreads to is the lymph nodes in the armpit. If this occurs you will develop a swelling or lump in an armpit.

How is breast cancer diagnosed?

• Initial assessment: A doctor examines the breasts and armpits. They may do tests such as a mammography, a special x-ray of the breast tissue which can indicate the possibility of tumours.
• Biopsy: A biopsy is when a small sample of tissue is removed from a part of the body. The sample is then examined under a microscope to look for abnormal cells. The sample can confirm or rule out cancer.

If you are confirmed to have breast cancer, further tests may be needed to assess if it has spread. For example, blood tests, an ultrasound scan of the liver or a chest X-ray.

How is breast cancer treated?

Treatment options which may be considered include surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hormone treatment. Often a combination of two or more of these treatments are used.

• Surgery: Breast-conserving surgery or the removal of the affected breast depending on the size of the tumour.
• Radiotherapy: A treatment which uses high energy beams of radiation focused on cancerous tissue. This kills cancer cells, or stops them from multiplying. It is mainly used in addition to surgery.
• Chemotherapy: A treatment of cancer by using anti-cancer drugs which kill cancer cells, or stop them from multiplying.
• Hormone treatments: Some types of breast cancer are affected by the 'female' hormone oestrogen, which can stimulate the cancer cells to divide and multiply. Treatments which reduce the level of these hormones, or prevent them from working, are commonly used in people with breast cancer.

How successful is treatment?

The outlook is best in those who are diagnosed when the cancer is still small, and has not spread. Surgical removal of a tumour in an early stage may then give a good chance of cure.

The routine mammography offered to women between the ages of 50 and 71 means more breast cancers are being diagnosed and treated at an early stage.

For more information visit breastcancernow.org or call its free helpline on 0808 800 6000