Strictly's Amy Dowden shares heartbreaking update on fertility struggle after cancer fight

Strictly Come Dancing professional Amy Dowden has issued an update about whether she'll be able to have children with her husband Ben Jones, following her cancer battle.

Amy, 34, was diagnosed with grade three breast cancer in May 2023 after finding a lump in her breast the day before the couple went on their honeymoon in the Maldives.

The dancer hoped surgery would fix it, however was later told by doctors that more tumours and "another type of cancer" had been found in tests.

From that moment on, Amy spent the rest of the year in and out of hospital to undergo chemotherapy, fertility treatment as well as a mastectomy.

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The dancer's health ordeal meant her also pulling out of Strictly Come Dancing last year, following six years on the show.

In February earlier this year, the dancer expressed her relief after a health check found "no evidence of the disease" was detected.

Amy told fans that while she wouldn't be getting the all-clear for at least another five years due to her cancer being hormone-fed, the news had been her "biggest accomplishment" yet.

Now back in better health, Amy will return to the dance floor for the show's special 20th anniversary which kicks off this weekend.

Although she's back into the swing of things of professionally, Amy says there are still doubts in her personal life when it comes to having children.

Opening up in a new interview, she shared: "I had a hormone-fed cancer, so they needed to put me into menopause because my hormones were feeding the cancer.

"My whole body was feeding cancer. But also because I was having chemotherapy, and as amazing as chemotherapy is, it destroys a lot of cells in your body.

"Your eggs, your ovaries, everything can be damaged and not necesssarily reboot again."

The dancer went on to say that while many have asked when the pair are having children, her body "can't go through that right now".

She added to The Senitel: "You produce so many hormones when you're pregnant, I'd be at such a high risk of my cancer returning. Of course we want children, but we still don't know.

"There are so many options, which we're grateful for. With fertility and the pressure in general you dont know what someone is going through. People should bear that in mind. We need to educate."

Amy tells the story of her cancer journey in her BBC documentary Strictly Amy: Cancer and Me, available to watch on BBC iPlayer now.

Strictly Come Dancing kicks off tonight at 7.20pm on BBC One.