Strictly star Amy Dowden's health woes - cancer journey, sepsis horror and falling ill backstage

Amy Dowden has been open and candid with fans about her health woes in recent years.

The Strictly Come Dancing professional, 34, first graced our screens in 2017 when she made her debut on the BBC dancefloor. Last year, the Welsh star was forced to take a break from the show after devastatingly being diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2023. Following her gruelling treatment, Amy came back this season.

Last night, TV chiefs had to make an urgent 999 call after she fell ill backstage. A representative for Amy stated: "Amy was feeling unwell and so an ambulance was called as a precaution. She is feeling much better and would like to thank the Strictly family for their love and concern. We request Amy's privacy in matters of health is kindly respected."

It's been a long journey back to health for Amy, who has spoken about her struggles and cancer journey to raise awareness. Here, the Mirror takes a look at everything she's been through...

In 2019, Amy revealed she was suffering from Crohn's disease, and fronted the BBC programme Strictly Amy: Crohn's And Me, in which she spoke about her battle with the condition and met other people with Crohn's to hear about their experiences. Crohn's is described by the NHS as a lifelong condition in which parts of the digestive system become inflamed.

In January 2022, she was admitted to hospital in Manchester following a Crohn's flare-up while on the Strictly live tour. Two years later, she was awarded an MBE for her services to Crohn's disease "on behalf" of all those who live with it. Amy is also an advocate and ambassador for the charity Crohn's & Colitis UK.

As well as Crohn's, Amy has publicly battled breast cancer. In May last year, Amy shared her shocking diagnosis, telling fans on Instagram: "Hey all, I've got some news which isn't easy to share. I've recently been diagnosed with breast cancer but I'm determined to get back on that dance floor before you know it."

She later told HELLO! Magazine: "I was in the shower and I felt this hard lump in my right breast. I was in shock; I checked again." After realising the lump had grown while on her honeymoon in the Maldives with her husband, co-star Benjamin Jones, Amy went to see her GP and was sent for an emergency referral.

It was then she was suddenly diagnosed with aggressive stage three breast cancer. "You just don't ever think it's going to happen to you. I hadn't thought it was possible to get breast cancer at my age," she continued, explaining that her mum had breast cancer in her fifties.

That month, Amy underwent a mastectomy and surgeons removed three tumours and further cancer specks, plus some lymph nodes from her right breast. But days afterwards, doctors discovered a second type of breast cancer in the tissue they removed, plus more tumours, including one close to her chest, and specks in her other breast.

It came as a huge shock to Amy. She was advised to have chemotherapy, but her first reaction was to refuse it. "I thought that's Strictly with a partner wiped out, that's my hair gone, that's my life gone. I was like, I don't want to do that," she told the Mirror.

While her surgeon kept telling her she could "dance forever and ever afterwards", Amy was adamant she didn't want to do it - until her former dance teacher stepped in. Amy was undergoing IVF to create and freeze embryos at the time, hoping she and Ben might still have children.

"She gave me tough love and said, 'What's the point of these embryos if you're not going to have chemo? Because you won't be around to have these babies anyway'," Amy said. She finally decided chemo was right for her.

But sadly, her first and second cycles didn't go to plan, resulting in emergency hospital stays and life-threatening complications. First came sepsis, then blood clots. "They said my blood pressure was that low my vital organs would have started failing," Amy said of the first cycle. "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."

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, adding that it was "frightening".

Amy recovered and as chemo continued, her hair began falling out at home, which was a horrific experience for her. "I found losing my hair really traumatic and it didn't matter how much I prepared for it I couldn't even brush my own hair in the end I couldn't even look in the mirror in the end because I was bald in top," she said.

In September 2023, she made the decision to shave her head and filmed it to post on Instagram. "We all did it together, my friends and family got together, we tried to make it as fun as possible," Amy explained. "They inspired me and I want to use my platform to give others the courage and strength they need."

Then in November, Amy told fans she was 'proud of herself' as she shared a health update after ringing the chemotherapy bell, marking the end of her treatment. In a heartfelt post, she opened up about the milestone moment, alongside a video of her hugging multiple hospital staff before ringing the bell as she teared up.

She said: "I rang the bell and I'm so thankful I got to! My toughest journey yet! These past few months I look back and think how did my body get through this both physically and mentally. From the words I'm so sorry Amy, it's cancer and what's your fertility plans. To having a mastectomy, two weeks later hormone daily injections for egg retrieval, a little Crohns flare up and then on to chemo plus shutting down my ovaries on the same day which sadly lead to sepsis, blood clots, losing my hair, my eyebrows, lashes (I have a few hanging in there) and three toe nails."

Amy continued: "But also it's taken away my love of life these past few months and of course my DANCING! It's been tough. But hopefully has now given me chance of more life which I'm eternally grateful for and I will never take for granted again. I'll never be the same Amy again but, what I do know is I'm so much stronger than I ever knew and I have made the most amazing friends along the way."

In February this year, the Strictly pro revealed her health check showed "no evidence of disease", describing the news from doctors as "words I dreamed of" and her "biggest accomplishment yet".