Search
13 Dec 2025
Search
13 Dec 2025
Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content.
Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist.
If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter .
Support our mission and join our community now.
To continue reading this article, you can subscribe for as little as €0.50 per week which will also give you access to all of our premium content and archived articles!
Alternatively, you can pay €0.50 per article, capped at €1 per day.
Thank you for supporting Ireland's best local journalism!
Strictly Come Dancing professional Amy Dowden has said she no longer feels “emotionally attached” to her body following her most recent mastectomy.
The Welsh dancer, 35, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2023 and subsequently underwent chemotherapy and a mastectomy.
In November she revealed she would have another mastectomy and said in an Instagram post that she had not received a new cancer diagnosis and could “expect a straightforward recovery”.
On Friday night, Dowden appeared on Channel 4’s Stand Up To Cancer and reflected on her 2023 appearance when she spoke to the show with a shaved head amid her treatment for the disease.
She said: “Two years ago, very different story when I was here last.
“I had no hair, I didn’t even recognise myself, actually, but I’m so proud of how far I’ve come.
“At the time I was going through the hardest journey of my life. A cancer diagnosis, it changes you forever.
“I still receive monthly injections on the oncology unit. I’ve been put into menopause because of my hormone-fed cancer.
“I don’t know if I’ll have the honour of being able to become a mum, which I desperately want to be able to…
“Five weeks ago, I had another mastectomy, so I’m no longer emotionally attached to my body, but I am so proud of how far it’s come, and I’m so grateful for another shot at life.”
She added: “A cancer diagnosis, it changes you forever. I’m no longer the person I was, and that’s not by choice.”
Dowden missed out on a celebrity partner on Strictly in 2023 amid her treatment but has since returned to the BBC One dancing show.
The dancer has documented her cancer experience online, and revealed in February 2024 that “no evidence of disease” was found at her latest health check.
She said: “I never thought I was going to get back on the dancefloor. I couldn’t see how I was going to get Amy back again.
“I hated the way I looked. I had no energy and I was scared.
“I was petrified, you know, I used to cry myself to sleep.
“My husband would hear me crying in the shower.
“I just longed for that old Amy back and I know I’m never, ever going to get her back.”
Subscribe or register today to discover more from DonegalLive.ie
Buy the e-paper of the Donegal Democrat, Donegal People's Press, Donegal Post and Inish Times here for instant access to Donegal's premier news titles.
Keep up with the latest news from Donegal with our daily newsletter featuring the most important stories of the day delivered to your inbox every evening at 5pm.
This publication supports the work of the Press Council of Ireland and Office of the Press Ombudsman, and our staff operate within the Code of Practice of the Press Council. You can obtain a copy of the Code, or contact the Council, at www.presscouncil.ie, Lo-call 1800 208 080 or email: info@presscouncil.ie.
