It has been the most emotional and challenging of times following Amy Dowden’s devastating diagnosis with breast cancer, which the Strictly Come Dancing star revealed exclusively to HELLO! earlier this week.
And as her fighting spirit is tested more than ever, her husband Ben – with whom Amy tied the knot in a romantic celebration in Wales last July – remains a pillar of strength by her side. Speaking publicly for the first time about the news, professional dancer Ben, 35, tells HELLO! magazine: “Amy has had a lot to deal with in her life and, as I expected, has shown great resilience in the past couple of weeks.”
"We are both surrounded by lots of family and friends who are going to be an important support to us in the coming months,” he adds. “We are both staying very positive and remain optimistic moving forward."
There has been a tremendous outpouring of love from Amy’s Strictly “family”, and the dancer tells us that the support she has received means “everything” to her.“ The pros have been amazing,” says Amy, who gathered her co-stars to break the news to them in person. “They all told me how they would be there every step of the way until I join them on the dancefloor again.”
Amy’s close friend and fellow pro Dianne Buswell, who was one of her bridesmaids, led the surge of good wishes from the cast of Strictly past and present that flooded social media after the news was announced on Wednesday.
"You WILL conquer this I absolutely know it!!! You are brave determined and so so strong! We are all here for you,” said Dianne, whose YouTuber boyfriend Joe Sugg also added his voice to the thousands of heartfelt messages. Indeed, that famous trait is out in full force when Amy tells HELLO! of her determination to be back in the Strictly ballroom when the show returns this autumn. “I’m going to do my utmost to be there for the new series,” she says.
It was back in April that Amy discovered a lump in her right breast, the day before she and Ben flew to the Maldives for their belated honeymoon. Two weeks ago, Amy and Ben were told that she has grade 3 breast cancer. “My doctor explained to me that there are three grades, and three is the most aggressive, but they feel asthough they’ve caught mine early and [told me] to not be too alarmed because grade 3 would be expected in somebody of my age,” she says.
The dancer knows the power of being surrounded by people who can relate to what you’re going through, and she has no shortage of success stories to draw strength from. Her mother Gillian recovered from breast cancer in her 50s, and a close friend – whose daughter is one of Amy’s students at the Art in Motion dance academy she runs with Ben – is in remission after being diagnosed with the same type of breast cancer as Amy in 2020.
“I think it’s important to have people around you who have been through it; they understand and can talk you through the right questions to ask,” she says. “We did a surprise big ‘ring the bell’ party for my friend to celebrate when she got through it all,” Amy recalls. “I can’t wait to have one of those myself.”
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