Strictly Come Dancing professional Amy Dowden, 36, has shared details of her health struggles, including the frustration her family experienced before she was diagnosed with Crohn's disease. Following a breast cancer diagnosis in 2023, she now shows "no evidence of disease" and has returned to compete on the BBC programme with celebrity hairstylist Chris Appleton, 43.
Dismissed by a doctor
The dancer continues to manage the chronic inflammatory bowel condition, which she was finally diagnosed with at age 19 after enduring severe pain, vomiting, exhaustion and frequent hospital admissions since childhood.
Speaking on The Lewis Nicholls Show podcast, Amy recalled how one doctor dismissed her condition, suggesting she should "go and eat a Mars bar" after mistakenly believing she had an eating disorder. The insufficient support from medical staff became so serious that her father Richard threatened legal action.
Family's emotional response
Recalling her mother Gillian's devastating response, Amy said: "I can remember my mum burst into tears in that appointment and I was so ill, I was just in shock and I just wanted answers. And then my mum said, 'well, if that's what you think, you need to treat her for that then, she needs help', and they didn't."
"And I can remember just breaking down in tears, and then when I was 19, I was that poorly, I was in hospital and I was at absolute... I was so ill. I don't think, except from when I had sepsis, that I've ever been this ill in my life and they ended up calling my parents at about three o'clock in the morning and I said, 'I can't do this anymore'."
"And they came down to the hospital, and the nurses said how poorly I was, and then my dad saw the doctor and he was just like, 'we can't take this anymore, we're going to seek legal advice, you're not doing anything'. And my dad was like, 'this is not my little girl anymore. If this was your daughter, you wouldn't have it."
Diagnosis and relief
After her father's exchange with the doctor, Amy was moved to UCL London after spending six weeks in hospital without answers. Her new consultant then "took one look at me, listened to some of my symptoms, and said, 'I can't confirm it but I think you've got Crohn's disease'."
Amy described the "relief" she and her family felt when she finally received her diagnosis, as she could then access the surgery and treatment needed to "finally get on with my life" and pursue her ambition of becoming a dancer.
She added: "My parents and I were just so upset because we didn't feel like doctors were listening to us. I think they saw a skinny dancer and thought, 'she's anorexic', and actually, I do eat, that wasn't the issue at all."
Despite her ordeal, Amy said her battles with Crohn's disease gave her "resilience" in life and helped her when she was later diagnosed with cancer. She said: "It [cancer] was also, in some respect, easier for me, because I'd already been through so many tests from a young age; long hospital stays, injections, infusions, that none of that was new to me."
Strictly Come Dancing: The Results airs tonight from 7.10pm on BBC One and iPlayer.
