Strictly’s Amy Dowden shares health update following second cancer diagnosis: ‘Not looking forward to this’

Amy Dowden has admitted that she is “not looking forward” to undergoing a procedure that will leave her with a permanently visible scar.

The Strictly Come Dancing star, 32, underwent a single mastectomy to treat stage three breast cancer after she was first diagnosed in May. But last month, she was told she needed chemotherapy after further tumours were discovered following the surgery.

In her latest update, the professional dancer shared a hospital selfie taken in the bathroom mirror, which showed her wearing a hospital gown and a face mask.

She wrote over the photo: “Really not looking forward to this! Another scar this one only [an] inch long but will always remind me and will always be [visible].”

Dowden also shared a series of photos from the procedure, which saw her getting fitted for a port for chemotherapy. Dowden wrote in the caption that she wanted to share her journey as she undergoes the treatment to “hopefully get others checking and for understanding what we go through”.

“Wasn’t looking forward to it. Wasn’t easy... My veins! Feeling tender, bruised and sore but the port will help massively over the next few weeks and allow me to dance when I feel well enough,” she continued.

“A port sits under the skin and the tube goes along my vein to the heart giving safe access for chemo (I believe. I’m no doctor!).”

It comes after Dowden, who also suffers from Crohn’s disease, revealed in an Instagram Live chat with breast cancer survivor and Paralympian Erin Kennedy that “everything changed” for her.

“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,” she explained.

“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.”

She expressed fears that chemotherapy would stop her from her dance practice, adding: “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.”

After her initial breast cancer diagnosis, Dowden was optimistic that she would be able to return to Strictly this year. However, her new treatment means she will not be able to do so in a competitive capacity.

“This year, it means I’m not going to be able to dance with a celebrity on Strictly, but I’m in such regular contact with the team – the BBC have just been utterly incredible,” she said.

Last week, Dowden made an emotional return to the set of the dance competition to see all her colleagues ahead of her treatment.

In an Instagram Story update, she revealed she had surprised her friends on set and said: “I had happy tears to see them all. I got to watch some of the dancing, catch up with them all and hear some exciting plans for this series. I am excited for you guys, it is going to be absolutely brilliant.”

Dowden first revealed her diagnosis in hopes it would raise awareness around the disease alongside her existing work on Crohn’s, a lifelong disease that affects parts of the digestive system.

In 2020, she fronted a BBC documentary about how her life has been impacted by Crohn’s, titled Strictly Amy: Crohn’s and Me.

Dowden is married to her long-term partner Benjamin Jones, who is also a professional dancer. They wed in 2022.