Strictly Come Dancing's Amy Dowden has said that being partnered with Tom Fletcher on the show and becoming friends with him may have saved her life.
The ballroom dancer is currently in treatment for breast cancer and in an appearance on Friday's Loose Women, 20 October, she explained how she had discovered a lump in her breast thanks to Tom and his wife Giovanna.
Amy, 33, danced with McFly star Tom in the 2021 series of Strictly and became good friends with the Fletchers, joining them on a fundraising trek for breast cancer charity CoppaFeel!, which Giovanna is an ambassador for.
The dancer said: "I'd only recently started checking my breasts. I went on the CoppaFeel trek with Giovanna. I was partnered with Tom Fletcher, that's the wonderful thing about Strictly, the friendships it creates.
"The Fletchers welcomed me into their family and later that year I went on a trek with G and whilst I was there I was with ladies telling me their story. Their ages were very similar to mine and I was thinking hang on, I'm here raising awareness and I don't even check myself."
Amy went on to explain how she checked her breasts and found a lump, and knew it would be breast cancer. She continued: "So potentially, CoppaFeel and the Fletchers, and Strictly partnering me with Tom Fletcher has now saved my life."
Although Amy said she was keeping a positive attitude to her treatment, she told how a low point had been realising that it would affect her future plans for children with husband Ben Jones.
She said of being told her diagnosis: "The doctor said to me, 'you've got breast cancer,' and then in the next sentence, 'what's your plans for children?'
"To me that was just a double…"
Amy, who has previously documented her Crohn's disease on TV, added that one of the toughest moments had been contracting an infection and being diagnosed with sepsis and a blood clot on her lung during cancer treatment.
She said: "Only last year we lost my auntie to sepsis and a blood clot on the lung. My poor parents, I can still see the pain in their eyes now."
Amy is absent from this year's Strictly cast while she goes through chemotherapy and told Loose Women how one of her biggest worries about treatment had been having to miss the show.
She said of her Strictly co-stars: "They've been absolutely amazing, they really have, and that's just been the most heartbreaking thing, watching it.
"On a Saturday I know everyone's in hair and make-up, they're doing their dress run, you know the songs that are about to play…
"I would give anything to be there right now but I've just got to be patient and I keep saying to myself, 'this too shall pass'. I will be back there and it'll be the best feeling in the world."
She added: "People are diagnosed every day with breast cancer and I hope I can give them some encouragement, that they can see I got through it, I got back on the dancefloor and there is light at the end of the tunnel."
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