Amy Dowden on BBC Breakfast - 24th August 2024

right uh last year Strictly Come dancings Amy daon was diagnosed with breast cancer I'm sure you'll know her story she found a lump the night before her honeymoon and after months of treatment incredibly she's now back on the dance floor and in training for the new series so Amy decided she wanted to share her experiences over the last 15 months in a documentary in the hope of helping others understand some of the realities of cancer at a young age have a look look at this one look at the top one there been so many times sharing my story where I have wished I didn't people were like writing to me saying you're such a narcissist look at me the biggest attention seeker ever who else would dance in the garden whil having to cut their hair off at the time I'd already felt a guy and my whole everything about me Shri away my identity and that and of course I would have done anything in the world to actually be not dancing in my friend's Garden about to shave my hair but to be dancing with my best friends on Strictly and then people write to me going you're not even stage four I'm like that's really you know it's so bad it is I didn't even know what my outcome was so for people to be like messaging like that I already felt hard to be look in the mirror well delighted to say Amy joins us now and the first thing to say is you look amazing and your hair looks incredible and I know that's quite a big feature of the documentary which which will come on to perhaps in a moment how are you today oh good morning I'm really well thank you good excellent now that little clip we showed you from the documentary there is is an important thing which we'll talk about but it doesn't at all tell the full story of what this documentary is all about which is an unbelievably raw and emotionally honest record of of your journey right almost right from the start you invited cameras in and I just think that was an incredible thing to do why did you take that decision oh thank you well I'd already done my documentary um previously about chrom's disease um which I suffer from and I saw the impact that had on breaking down the stigma raising awareness um so I saw firsthand the rewards from that and I guess had I not done my Cron's documentary I don't think I would have ever done this one I wouldn't have had the confidence um and I guess I was trying to turn such a Negative difficult period of my life into some sort of positive and thinking well if I can raise awareness that check in yourself because if you don't check who is and early prevention you know early detection can save lives is so important so if just 10 people who watch my documentary start checking themselves I might save one life well it'll be more than that because I can tell you straight away as I was watching it I was checking myself immediately it's almost an instinctive reaction isn't it but it's not just about your personal Journey but also the people who are closest to you your husband your mom and dad it's really tough on all of you and the way that they support you they've been incredible um but but again what was that like kind of opening that up to the wider world yeah I think obviously I think they found it tough because they were dealing with you know so many emotions themselves and I guess they just wanted to protect me um I guess they knew how important the message is to me to raise awareness um but I'm so lucky to have honestly the best family and friends and I'm really not sure I would have got through the last 16 months without them they really did keep me going and they did everything possible and of course um the care I received on the Sheldon unit um honestly those oncology nurses the team everybody they're just real life Heroes they really are Amy good morning to you it's Charlie here in the studio uh now you strike me Amy as being a very very positive person and I think that comes through I mean literally I think we could see it in your face as we speak to you this morning uh the the moment we showed a few minutes ago I'm sort of loathed to to give trolls any publicity whatsoever you got a lot of that stuff but first I'd like to ask you about the positives I suspect that many many people have contacted you about you know your condition the time you're going through and you know have been a support and maybe you've been able to support them as well which in a way is much more important isn't it yeah absolutely as soon as I spoke out about it I had one young lady message me exactly the same age going through exactly the same as me from you know masectomy to fertility treatment and she said she didn't feel alone and I actually gained a community of friends online from speaking out but also I still get in the thousands of messages of people saying because of me they've gone to the GP to get a lump Chet um which was exactly my reason for sharing my story so that is just yeah to give people the confidence to go to the GP when they know something's not right is everything yeah that is the important stuff and then there's the other stuff which is the the the stuff that you kind of very bravely take on you you you tell people you receive this stuff and I think that in itself will help other people maybe deal with unpleasantness they receive it it's disgusting what people are prepared to write yeah it's not okay and there's no textbook on how to deal with any diagnosis doesn't even have to be cancer or life in general um and you've got to do what's right for you and you know this shouldn't be the judging and people shouldn't be able to hide behind a keyboard I remember being so low and up in the middle of the night because of the steroids I was on during chemo just being so low I wasn't able to dance with my best friends on strickly and some of those messages were just so hurtful so upsetting and you never know what someone is going through and I just feel is there's not enough aw us out there and there's no punishment to anybody you know no one is learning be kind it's free if we can be anything in the world be kind and I just worry for the teenagers of today who are all on social media um and we just see so much online bullying more needs to be done about it it's really not okay do you know the other really important conversation but I'll urge people to watch the program actually is the one that you have around your face F ility treatment and I think that will um mean a lot not just to people going through cancer but who are having any kind of facing any kind of challenges around starting a new family but but watch the program um and and and take from that you know the great courage you've had in speaking out about that but we didn't want to let you go without asking about strictly so delighted that you're back and fully involved and you're obviously feeling completely up for it ready for it because that is a grueling grueling process to put yourself through yeah yeah you know what that's what kept me going through my all the treatment everything was getting myself back on the Dance Floor I'm someone who needs a go and you know what I have just been loving it it feels like my first year again um yeah dancing again tomorrow to an audience and it's my happy place and actually since being back at strickley um has been I felt like Amy again to be honest with you um and I'm just so excited for everything we've been working super hard for the series and I can't wait for everyone to see uh well we look forward to it really really do and in the meantime we're waiting for that to start do go and watch Amy's program as well thank you um on behalf of all the people who this will mean a huge amount to and will be able to connect with your story in particular Amy and thank you for talking to us just a reminder thank thank you Amy just a remind strictly Amy uh cancer and me will be on bbc1 8:00 on Monday and on the I player straight after that