Amy Dowden has revealed her breast cancer diagnosis at the age of 32, in the hope that sharing her experience will help others affected by the illness.
The Strictly Come Dancing star took to Instagram to break the difficult news to her 332k followers on Wednesday, less than a year after she married longtime partner Ben.
"Hey all, I've got some news which isn't easy to share. I've recently been diagnosed with breast cancer but I'm determined to get back on that dance floor before you know it," she wrote in her post, which included a link to her exclusive Hello! interview.
Dowden, who has been a Strictly Come Dancing professional since 2017, shared more details of her diagnosis with the celebrity magazine. The Welsh native explained that she "found a hard lump" in her right breast while showering, just one day before she and Ben were due to leave for their honeymoon in the Maldives.
"I was in shock. I checked again. I thought: 'Right, it could just be period-related, or so many things. I decided I was going to keep an eye on it for a few weeks," she added.
By the time she had returned from the vacation, however, the lump had only gotten bigger. Her GP made her an emergency referral to have a biopsy, which confirmed she had grade 3 cancer.
"Everything happened so fast within that day. I went on my own and didn't tell anybody, but when I was there, the nurse said to me: 'You need to have somebody here' and that's when Ben found out."
Dowden adds that doctors warned her that the lump was "looking very suspicious" and to "prepare for the worst, hope for the best." In the meantime, the TV star just has to wait.
"I don't know what stage the cancer is yet, until I have an MRI scan and a biopsy on a second lump they have found in the same breast. Once they've got that, they can give me a full prognosis."
Dowden also revealed that although her own mother had breast cancer when she was in her 50s, she had never imagined she herself could be diagnosed with the disease at the age of 32.
"You just don't ever think it's going to happen to you," she said.
Dowden, who has already been open about her battle with Crohn's Disease, hopes that sharing her latest 'hurdle' will help others affected by the illness.
"If I can try and turn this negative into a positive, it's going to help me get through this," she said.
"I want put out there how important it is to check your chest - whether you're male or female."
For information and support on breast cancer, visit Breast Cancer Now.
