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Amy Dowden has opened up in regards to the element she “cried most over” after being identified with most cancers.
The 34-year-old Strictly Come Dancing professional found she had the illness in Might 2023 after discovering a lump in her breast. She has saved her followers up to date along with her journey as she recovered from stage three breast most cancers and was given the all-clear in February this 12 months.
Dowden, who’s returning to the BBC dancefloor subsequent month, is releasing a brand new memoir that sees her go into element about her chemo periods, her mastectomy and a life-threatening sepsis battle.
Within the ebook, titled Dancing within the Rain, the professional revealed that she cried essentially the most tars over dropping her hair.
“My life away from Strictly was distinctly unglamorous,” she stated in an extract obtained by MailOnline. “With every new chemo session, the following problem was rising increasingly apparent. Earlier than I may say goodbye to most cancers, I must say goodbye to my hair. And I believe I cried extra over that than the rest.
“I must trim it, clip it and eventually shave it fully – after which face the terrifying determination to seem on nationwide TV with a fuzzy bald head.”
In September 2023, Dowden stated she determined to “take management” and shave her head as she was “crying day by day” because of her hair falling out because of her chemotherapy remedy.
She shared a video of her family members shaving her hair, describing it as “the toughest step thus far”.
However, after, Dowden might be seen admiring the ends in the mirror and wrote as a caption: “This too shall go. I attempted my greatest to reserve it. I do know it’s solely hair however these previous few months I’ve had what looks like a lot taken away from me that has made me not really feel like Amy.
“I’m lacking each potential facet of dancing. I simply wished to maintain my identification with my hair and I attempted telling myself it wouldn’t go. However I’d dread the ache of waking as much as the shredding on a regular basis.”
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One month later, the dancer, who was compelled to withdraw from final 12 months’s Strictly because of her sickness, determined to ditch her wig and “courageous the bald” simply moments earlier than her shock look on an episode.
Dowden was extensively praised for the choice by viewers, with the present’s co-host Claudia Winkleman telling her: “We’re so excited that [you’re] nicely sufficient to be right here.”
The professional has appeared on the BBC sequence since 2017.
