04 October 2023 , 23:00
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Amy Dowden has revealed she's grateful for the 'tough love' advice she received from an old dance teacher after initially refusing to have chemotherapy for her breast cancer.
In an exclusive interview with the Mirror, the Strictly Come Dancing pro recalled how her former teacher in Wales was instrumental in changing her mind about the powerful drug treatment. Amy, 33, admitted that she had been "adamant" not to undergo chemo at first, over fears of what it would mean for her quality of life.
"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 said. "I was pretty adamant up until the day before, I had a meltdown, a crying fit going ‘I don’t want to do it’.”
Her doctors explained to her, however, that she would be reducing her chances of recovery if she decided against having chemotherapy. “My surgeon kept telling me, ‘You can dance forever and ever afterwards’.”
Amy has opened up about the tough love she received about IVF (Rowan Griffiths / Daily Mirror)It was one difficult conversation with a dance instructor that convinced her to have the treatment, after learning about her plans for starting a family. The ballroom dancer explained that she had a desire to have IVF to create and freeze embryos before starting cancer treatment, to give her and husband Ben the chance to still have children.
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"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 recalled.
The Caerphilly native also revealed that her fifth cycle of chemotherapy has been a different type, which has been harder to withstand. She has been sent home with oral morphine for pain, and has since suffered bouts of vomiting and fatigue.
All being well, come early next month, she will be finished with the treatment by next month. She hopes that the chemotherapy will be effective, but admits she is remaining realistic about her future. "I dream every night of being back on the dance floor,” she says. “But I don’t want to set myself up for disappointment.”