05 October 2023 , 11:02
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Strictly Come Dancing professional Amy Dowden recently revealed that she suffered ‘life-threatening’ side-effects from the chemotherapy sessions she is currently undergoing amid her breast cancer battle.
The brave star, 33, who has been documenting her cancer journey in a bid to help and inspire others, first revealed that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer back in May and has since undergone an operation, as well as a mastectomy and fertility treatment.
Amy was determined to get better fast in a bid to rejoin her Strictly family for the 2023 series, but unfortunately things took a turn for the worst when doctors told her that she had been diagnosed with a second form of cancer. After her operation this summer, Amy gave the devastating update on her health during an Instagram Live video.
Chatting with breast cancer survivor and Paralympic gold medalist Erin Kennedy for the charity CoppaFeel!, Amy sadly revealed she had been diagnosed with 'another type of cancer' after doctors found more tumours. The professional dancer revealed doctors found more tumours when she underwent her MRI and mastectomy.
Amy Dowden's brave health struggles as she battles sepsis while undergoing chemotherapy (Rowan Griffiths / Daily Mirror)“For me my journey everything changed. I was originally going to have a lumpectomy, radiotherapy and hormone treatment. But then, after my MRI, they found another tumour so then it changed into a mastectomy and then, after my mastectomy, unfortunately, they found even more tumours. And my pathology wasn’t what they were expecting. And they found another type of cancer and then they told me I needed chemo – for me that was a massive blow. It wasn’t in the plan, originally – and I know the plan you can’t get fixated on.
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“So all of a sudden then I realised. And you get scared. But the oncologist did say that with chemo I’ve got a really good chance of a cure. I was really scared and I didn’t want to do chemo but then seeing someone like yourself who’s carried on and for me straight away it was my dancing, like, you can take away my boob but you can’t take my dancing away from me and that’s what I get really upset about.”
Since then, the brave star has been documenting every step of the way - from her painful stays in hospital to Amy finally making the brave decision to shave her head before losing it all during her chemotherapy sessions.
While Amy has kept a brave face on social media throughout her cancer battle, behind-the-scenes it has been a terrifying ordeal for the star as she recently told The Mirror that she was 'close to death' after being diagnosed with sepsis and suffering blood clots while undergoing chemotherapy.
Amy's first and second cycles of chemo have resulted in emergency hospital stays and life-threatening complications. Opening up about her health complications, she told The Mirror: “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."
After her first chemo session, Amy said she 'felt great', going for a five-mile walk with her dad two days later – but collapsing soon after. “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," she recalled.
Amy has kept a brave face on social media throughout her cancer battle (Amy Dowden/Instagram)
Amy Dowden shares heartbreaking tearful video as she cuts her hair amid chemo (Instagram)“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. My last memory is a load of doctors around me in the early hours of Sunday morning. On Monday a nurse explained I had gone into septic shock. They said my blood pressure was that low my vital organs would have started failing.”
Following the traumatic experience amid her cancer battle, Amy is unable to recall much from her time in intensive care. “I had severely low blood pressure, a low heart rate, I wasn’t passing urine for 14 hours, my infection markers were at dangerous levels. I had three different types of antibiotics and I finally responded to the third type," she explained.
“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.” Amy was told the sepsis was caused by an infection which she picked just up before her treatment.
Assured by her oncologist that she had been unlucky, Amy pressed ahead with her second cycle of chemo, only to be faced again by terrifying circumstances. “I got blood clots, I ended up back in hospital,” she explained. They occurred in her left arm because of complications caused by her port, fitted to a vein to help administer chemo drugs.
"I had the chemo on the Thursday and ended up in hospital on the Monday until the Wednesday,” she says. “My arm swelled up and went purple and I was really short of breath. So I was rushed back in. It was frightening, too. I’m on blood thinners now for six months.”
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Throughout her cancer battle, Amy's honesty and positive nature has garnered praise and love from thousands upon thousands of fans and followers alike across the nation. Last month, Amy was inundated with support from stars of Strictly as she bravely shared a tear-jerking video of her having her head shaved as she vowed to 'take back control'.
Amy Dowden arrives at the National Television Awards (Alan Chapman/Dave Benett/Getty I)
Amy has remained positive amid her cancer battle (Instagram/amy_dowden)The dancer shared a heartbreaking yte empowering video on Instagram that showed her having her head shaved. Amy invited her friends and family to cut off her locks before a hairdresser steps in to finish the emotional haircut, and is seen breaking down in tears in the video. She wrote a powerful caption alongside the emotional clip, and told fans she was 'taking back control' after being diagnosed.
“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 everyday,” she explained.
"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."
If you have been affected by this story, advice and support can be found at Breast Cancer Support.