Amy Dowden shares 'frustrating' effect of breast cancer treatment in update to fans

Dowden, who runs Art in Motion Dance Academy in Cradley Heath alongside her professional dance partner husband Ben Jones, shared the update with her almost 666,000 Instagram followers.

She said she has lost some of her hair for the second time as she continues to suffer effects from her breast cancer treatment – even after being told there was “no evidence of the disease” left in her body.

The 33-year-old, who was told she will not receive the all clear from cancer until five years have passed, admitted she was “frustrated” at her continued hair loss as she carries on with her treatment.

Sharing a video to her Instagram Stories on Friday morning, Dowden showed off her short blonde pixie hairstyle and told viewers that she had arrived early at her local hospital for a blood test.

She said: “I've come an hour early by mistake for my blood test at the hospital so I thought, do you know what, I'm going to come on and say hello to you all.

“Excuse the wild hair. I have put this serum on it to help keep the condition a bit, but it's gone a bit curly and a bit wild. I've also lost my eyelashes again, only a few of them.

"They are growing back again, but I did read when I was having treatment quite a few posts from ladies who said that they had lost them again, like after the 12-week cycle they lost them once more.

"So let me know if this has happened to you. It's a little bit frustrating, but it's not the end of the world."

Earlier this month, the dancer, who appeared on Strictly between 2017 and 2022 before her cancer diagnosis forced her to step down, revealed that losing her hair was the hardest part of her entire breast cancer battle. She had to shave her head after her hair began to fall out amid her chemotherapy last year.

Dowden found a lump in her breast the day before she jetted off for a belated honeymoon to the Maldives last April. The dancer announced she had been diagnosed with breast cancer in an Instagram post shared in May 2023 and underwent a mastectomy in July.

Since then, she has been praised by fans for sharing regular health updates on her Instagram page. She also battled sepsis during her chemotherapy treatment, as well as a blood clot on her lung.

She appeared on BBC’s ‘The One Show’ earlier this month, when she admitted she is still coming to terms with some of the impact of the treatment, such as the aftermath of losing her hair.

“Taking the decision to shave my hair off was definitely the hardest step to take throughout my whole cancer journey but I wanted to be in control”, she said.

In February, she revealed her latest check up shows "no sign of the disease" although she won't get an "all clear" for five years. She also told her fans that she is looking forward to dancing on the next series of ‘Strictly Come Dancing’.

It comes after she showed off her dance moves at the West End production of Mamma Mia in March, marking the first time she had been seen dancing publicly since her cancer diagnosis.