Amy Dowden reveals ‘life-threatening’ sepsis diagnosis amid cancer treatment

Amy Dowden has revealed that she was recently diagnosed with “life-threatening” sepsis as she underwent cancer treatment earlier this month.

The Strictly Come Dancing star, 33, told her nearly 490k followers on Instagram that she suffered a “setback” in her treatment and had to spend “several days in hospital” being treated by an ICU team.

In June, Dowden underwent a mastectomy after being diagnosed with stage three breast cancer the month prior. She began chemotherapy earlier this month after doctors found another type of cancer.

Speaking to Hello! magazine in a new interview, the professional dancer said she started feeling ill two days after her first round of chemotherapy and started getting a fever.

“I started having a temperature of 37.7 degrees Celsius,” she recalled. “At the time, I didn’t realise that having a temperature of 37.5 or above could be fatal for a chemo patient. I just thought it was my reaction to chemo, but as it turned out, I had already got an infection.”

She added: “I felt freezing cold but I was all clammy and shaking. My mum and dad rang my red card [which provides the chemotherapy team’s contact details and current treatment information] and they said to hang up and ring the ambulance.”

Dowden continued: “I didn’t want to go into hospital; at the time I didn’t realise how ill I was.

“I knew it was a Saturday night, so A&E would probably be crowded, and it was dangerous being around people as it’s more likely you’ll pick up an infection.

“On chemo, you don’t have your white blood cells to fight infection. We now know I had the infection just before I started chemo, but we were never able to pinpoint what actually caused it.”

Dowden said she was so ill that she couldn’t really understand the danger she was in.

“The doctors and nurses were telling me I had sepsis and that it was life-threatening, but I wasn’t taking it in,” she said.

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“I didn’t become properly aware until later. I told my dad, ‘I’ve got sepsis’ and he said, ‘I know!’”

On her birthday on 10 August, Dowden spent the day in hospital after her temperature went up again. She is currently recovering at home and has been able to continue her chemotherapy treatment.

The treatment has caused the TV star to start losing her hair and she now wears a wig, but she is hopeful she will be able to appear on the forthcoming series of Strictly in some way.

She revealed that the Strictly production team is “getting me some fabulous wigs ready”.

“The team are being guided by me – they’ve been utterly amazing,” Dowden said. “We’ve got some dates in the diary, but it will depend on how I feel. We’re taking it a step at a time.”

Dowden’s professional dancer colleagues on the show have been sending her videos, flowers and presents to encourage her as she undergoes treatment, she added.

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“I speak to Dianne [Buswell] every single day. This is impacting on them as well because we’re a team,” she said.

“I’m grateful they are including me because Strictly will help me get through the next few months, mentally. It’s just the tonic that I need.”

Last week, Dowden opened up about her hair loss and admitted she was finding it “so hard”.

She shared a photo of a clump of her hair that had fallen out with a series of broken heart emojis and wrote: “So much everyday! So hard! One day at a time!”

After her mastectomy, Dowden was told she needed chemotherapy as doctors found further tumours after the surgery.

In an Instagram Live chat, she said: “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.”

Dowden is married to her long-term partner Benjamin Jones, who is also a professional dancer. The couple wed in 2022, after having to reschedule their wedding due to the Covid pandemic.