Strictly Come Dancing star Amy Dowden has revealed she has grade 3 breast cancer at the age of 32.
The professional dancer who has become a favourite on the BBC show, received the shock diagnosis last week.
Although she does not yet know if she will re-join Strictly, Amy wrote in a statement posted on Instagram on Wednesday May 24: "I've got some news which isn't easy to share.
"I've recently been diagnosed with breast cancer but I am determined to get back on that dance floor before you know it. Welsh love Amy X."
Amy, from Caerphilly, South Wales, watched her mum suffer from cancer from a young age.
The dancer, who joined Strictly in 2017, said in an exclusive interview with Hello!: "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. My mum has had breast cancer, but she had it at a later age, in her 50s."
Amy first discovered a lump in her right breast in April while on holiday with husband Ben in the Maldives. "I was in the shower and I felt this hard lump in my right breast," recalls Amy.
When she returned form the trip, the star book in with her GP and was sent for an emergency referral before being diagnosed last week with grade 3 breast cancer.
“My doctor explained to me that there are three grades, and three is the most aggressive, but they feel like they've caught mine early and to not be too alarmed because grade 3 would be expected in somebody of my age," she explained to Hello!
Last June she joined I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! winner Giovanna Fletcher on a charity hike in Pembrokeshire for CoppaFeel, a charity that encourages people to check their breasts and supports people with breast cancer.
Amy partnered Giovanna’s husband McFly frontman Tom Fletcher during the 2021 series of Strictly.
During the hike Amy posted: "Would love any donation possible towards this fantastic charity which is very close to my heart after watching my mum and close friend battle with breast cancer."
Amy married her professional dance partner Ben Jones last year after a two-year delay because of the pandemic.
They were joined by guests including Strictly judge Craig Revel Horwood and former professional dancer Janette Manrara, and her husband, Strictly star Alijaz Skorjanec.
Fellow Strictly dancer Dianne Buswell was one of her bridesmaids, alongside her twin sister, Rebecca.
Rebecca said: "From day one, we have always been there for each other, from our first day at school to our first dance lesson, to be there to see you win the British Nationals and then go on to be on Strictly Come Dancing.
"However, nothing will stop being by your side again and seeing you say ‘I do’. Thank you for choosing me as your Maid of Honour.”
Amy and Ben are former British National Latin Dance Champions and run a dance school together in the West Midlands.
Just last month they flew to the Maldives to celebrate their belated honeymoon. The dancer started ballroom dancing aged eight.
Last year she told the Daily Mirror a visit to the Blackpool Tower ballroom with her mum as a child had sparked the love and prompted her to make the move from disco dancing.
She laughed: "I said, 'Mam, this is better than Disneyland'. I remember it now, opening the double doors into the ballroom, holding my mum's hand, walking down the long corridor and being, like, 'Wow'.
"I sat in the front row and had to be bribed to leave. It made me realise this is where I belong."
She reached the Strictly final in 2019 with her celebrity partner TV presenter Karim Zeroual after partnering Brian Conley and Danny John-Jules in her first two series.
She later partnered JJ Chalmers, Tom Fletcher, and last year, EastEnders’ actor James Bye.
Her honesty about living with Crohn’s disease since childhood, an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that can cause potentially life-threatening complications, has helped many sufferers, and in 2020 a documentary she made about the condition won a BAFTA Cymru award.
She was also given a Points of Light award by Rishi Sunak for raising awareness of Crohn's disease at Downing Street in March.
She said of the disease: “I know when I need to rest, and when I have to eat simply and drink lots of water.
“I have always been driven to win, so Crohn's was never going to hold me back.”
