Celebrities appearing on Who Do You Think You Are? frequently find themselves floored by facts from the lives of their long-gone relatives. And Amy Dowden received a particularly hard blow when she was reminded of her own battle with breast cancer, after learning her great-grandmother died of the same disease a century before.
A Heartbreaking Discovery
The Strictly Come Dancing professional, 35, broke down in tears on the BBC programme when she was told her relative, Louisa, died aged 39 in 1921. While she is now cancer-free, Ms Dowden endured chemotherapy, a double mastectomy and a number of severe side-effects including sepsis following her own diagnosis in 2023 – when she was 32 years old.
'It was a rollercoaster of emotions,' she said of being told the news by medical historian Dr Agnes Arnold-Forster on the episode, which will be shown next Tuesday. 'It took me back to being diagnosed with cancer myself.'
Reflecting on the Past
Ms Dowden said that, as there was no effective treatment back then, her great-grandmother had to 'endure breast cancer without access to chemo or any modern medicine'. She added that the story made her 'even more grateful for the NHS'.
Speaking to Radio Times, she revealed how she became 'quite emotional' thinking about how Louisa left behind her husband, Bill, and six young children. Ms Dowden discovered a lump just one day before her honeymoon with fellow dancer Ben Jones and the treatment forced her to take time off from the BBC show.
She said: 'I live life very differently, you don't know what's around the corner. Every day is a privilege.'
