Amy Dowden has revealed she became ‘unresponsive’ when she developed sepsis shortly after receiving a devastating cancer diagnosis.
The Strictly Come Dancing star, from Caerphilly, has previously spoken about developing the infection after she began chemotherapy for stage 3 breast cancer in May 2023.
However, speaking on Andy Coulson’s Crisis What Crisis? podcast, the 33-year-old revealed that doctors had told her parents Gillian and Richard and her husband Ben that she was ‘unresponsive’ after going into septic shock.
Things were so bad Amy’s mother was warned her daughter would not be able to function for more than 16 hours before her organs began to fail.
Thankfully, Amy shared the brilliant news last week that her latest scan has revealed no sign of cancer in her body – however as she discussed the details of her health battle she revealed just how serious her condition had become at the start of her treatment.
Strictly Come Dancing professional ballroom dancer Amy Dowden has opened up about how serious her condition became when she was diagnosed with sepsis last year
The dancer revealed her battle with sepsis came shortly after her first round of chemotherapy after she collapsed at home on a Saturday afternoon.
‘There was a lot to get my head around,’ she said, discussing how the diagnosis and the treatment had affected her mental health as she grappled with losing her hair and the seriousness of her illness.
As she was put in the ambulance to go to A&E, Amy recalled feeling ‘scared’ because she’d been injected with bone marrow that morning and had ‘no white blood cells’, meaning there was a risk of picking up an infection if she went into hospital.
Amy, pictured with her husband Ben, revealed how doctors called her family shortly after she was admitted to hospital with an infection to tell them she was ‘unresponsive’ to treatment
The 33-year-old dancer from Caerphilly said her parents ‘broke’ upon hearing the news their daughter had sepsis – after Amy’s aunt had died from the infection the previous year
Amy revealed she was reluctant to go to hospital but had been ‘encouraged’ by paramedics to get in the ambulance – and shortly afterwards, she took ‘a turn’.
The dancer was admitted immediately with an infection with her family around her, but later in the evening doctors assured them Amy was ok and they could go home.
However, the following morning when Amy’s husband called the hospital to see how his wife was doing, he was told: ‘The doctor wants to speak to you.’
Ben, who was with Amy’s parents at the time, put the phone on loudspeaker to hear the doctor’s update – but the news was devastating for the family.
Upon being told their daughter had sepsis, Amy’s parents ‘broke to the floor’ – because Amy’s aunt had died of the blood infection just a year earlier. The doctor also revealed she had a blood clot on her lung and was ‘unresponsive’ to treatment.
Throughout her diagnosis and treatment, Amy has shared her chemotherapy journey with fans on her social media pages
Amy (pictured with her parents Gillian and Richard and fellow Strictly star Diane Buswell) revealed her family ‘knew what it meant’ that she had sepsis
Amy said: ‘My parents went into meltdown mode, Ben went into protection mode of them, and when they got to the hospital I wasn’t in the room.
‘I was having an emergency CT scan and the doctor had just said to my – my mum had to walk away.
‘My husband said that he’d said my heart rate and my blood pressure was so low that I probably wouldn’t function more than sixteen hours, my organs would go into failure. They felt I’d gone into septic shock.’
Amy explained the intensive care team had been drafted in to look after her, however thankfully, she began to respond to new antibiotics.
She recalled the moment she woke up with her family around her, saying: ‘I saw the pain in my parents’ eyes, and I don’t think they’ve been the same since.
‘It was so tough for them to have watched that, especially after what we’d been through with my auntie. And yes, I don’t think they’ve been same or never will be the same again.’
Elsewhere in the interview, Amy spoke about the people she has met during her journey who inspired her – some of whom have sadly passed away.
One friend she mentioned by name was Nicky Newman, a woman Amy reached out to online after her diagnosis.
‘[Nicky] got diagnosed with breast cancer, unfortunately got to secondary cancer, and she did everything she could to raise awareness, and she was brilliant at it. Her legacy will live on,’ Amy explained.
She revealed she and Nicky ‘sent each other voice messages’ while they were both going through cancer treatment, and described her as a ‘ray of sunshine’ despite her prognosis.
‘She knew it was going to get her but she didn’t- I don’t know, she didn’t let it define her and it gave me that hope,’ Amy said.
When she found out Nicky had died at the age of 35, Amy said she thought: ‘I’m going to go and grab life and I’m going to do it for you.’
She added: ‘I know that there are so many people who won’t get the news that I’ve got, and you know, I’m so grateful for that.
‘After everything I’ve had, I feel like I was robbed of 2023, that I’m going to make the most of every single day, every single opportunity, and I learned that in those sentences, “Sorry Amy, it’s cancer,” that your life changes forever.’
Although Amy has spend the last year having treatment for cancer, she has been in and out of hospital for most of her life with Chron’s disease.
However, speaking about her symptoms which first came on at the age of 11, Amy explained it was eight years before she received her diagnosis.
‘At 11 years old the pain came on, and the vomiting, the diarrhoea, losing consciousness when I was in so much pain, and I think my family were just so worried,’ she said.
At first, her parents thought she might have appendicitis, but there were other people in her family who had Chron’s so they thought this diagnosis was likely as well.
However, she said she and her family didn’t feel they were taken seriously by the specialists at the hospital (although her GP was always very attentive), and despite keeping a detailed food diary and watching her symptoms, she didn’t receive a formal diagnosis until she was 19-years-old, when she became very unwell.
Amy said her teenage years were blighted by her condition, which made her feel ’embarrassed’ compared to her peers.
‘I would just go home and cry. But I’d just get so embarrassed, I’d be sat in the toilet and wait for everybody to leave before I’d open the door,’ she said.
She added that ambulances were ‘a frequent thing’ for her at school, but thankfully her classmates were kind.
Throughout difficult teenage years, Amy explained how she turned to dance for comfort and solace.
‘It was my medicine at that time, when I was back dancing, and it gave me something to work towards,’ she explained.
‘Dancing was my happy place, it was my escapism, and it still is now. An escapism from reality.’
As Amy reflected on the future after being told there is no sign of cancer in her body, she revealed how she will draw on her friend Nicky’s thirst for life.
She said: ‘You don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow so yes, to tell your loved ones you love them, to spend time with your family and friends, but also if an opportunity comes that you’ve dreamed of, don’t put it off, just do it.’
Amy Dowden shared her story on the Crisis What Crisis podcast, hosted by Andy Coulson. To listen to the podcast, click here
