Strictly Come Dancing professional Amy Dowden appeared on Loose Women on Friday (October 20) in one of her first TV interviews since being diagnosed with breast cancer.
Dowden, who hails from Caerphilly, announced in June that she had undergone a mastectomy after discovering she had stage three breast cancer just weeks before.
Dowden discovered a lump in her breast just a day before she went on her honeymoon in April, a belated trip following her 2022 marriage to husband Ben Jones, with whom she won the British National Latin Dance Championships.
She is currently undergoing chemotherapy treatment and made her Loose Women debut on Friday to talk about her battle with breast cancer.
Amy Dowden talks breast cancer battle on Loose Women
Amy Dowden appeared on Friday's show in a pink dress and wig - having shaved her hair off recently due to her ongoing chemotherapy.
Speaking to Loose Women panellists Jane Moore, Denise Welch, Judi Love and Nadia Sawalha, Dowden spoke about her battle with breast cancer and what she had been through since the initial diagnosis.
She explained how her mum had breast cancer and how she kept the discovery of the lump a secret from her new husband Ben while on their honeymoon.
Talking on Loose Women she said: "I was putting sun tan lotion on and I could feel it."
The 33-year-old revealed she didn't want to tell her husband because he knew he would worry and they wouldn't have gone on the honeymoon, which they had already delayed before.
Dowden said despite awaiting test results to find out officially confirm it she "could just tell" she had breast cancer.
Dowden explained she was initially reluctant to have chemotherapy.
She said: "I had just watched my friend go through chemo. I was just really scared - I didn't want to loose my hair and I didn't want to miss Strictly."
She is now undergoing chemotherapy treatment but revealed it hasn't all been smooth sailing.
The Strictly professional said she had contracted sepsis during the treatment stages and had a blood clot on her lung.
But she has made it through all the challenges so far and the Loose Women panallists agreed she was an "inspiration".
Welch added: "You are going to fly through this (cancer battle), you're absolutely incredible."
Dowden replied: "I just hope I can give them (others going through breast cancer) some encouragement. To show I got through it and I got back on the dance floor."
Despite not featuring in Strictly Come Dancing 2023, Dowden said she had received "amazing" support from the other professional dancers on the show.
She added the "most heartbreaking thing" about her battle with cancer was not being able to take part in Strictly and having to watch from home on a Saturday night.
To conclude the interview, the Loose Women panellists gave Dowden a mug from the show and made her an "honorary Loose Woman".
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here