Amy Dowden is a big fan of motivational mottos.
They are peppered throughout the Strictly pro’s new memoir, Dancing In The Rain – which charts her remarkable story from growing up in South Wales as a young girl determined to pursue her dancing dreams, despite often being hospitalised with debilitating pain due to Crohn’s disease, to finally landing her big break on Strictly Come Dancing.
And then, after finding a lump the day before going on honeymoon, being diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer in spring 2023, aged 32.
“I love them,” Dowden, now 34, beams. “My one at the moment, which I have on my phone, is: Dreams don’t work unless you do,” she adds, holding her phone up to reveal her screensaver as we chat over Zoom.
“It’s that little bit of a push, or that little bit of belief. Sometimes just saying something to yourself can reinforce or change your mindset when you need it.”
Dowden has needed plenty of these reminders during the past year-and-a-half. She had her last chemo session last November, but the treatment – which also involved a mastectomy and medically induced early menopause as her cancer was hormone-fed – brought with it some “very dark” moments.
Not only was she dealing with a huge blow so soon after getting married and working so hard to reach Strictly, she developed serious complications, including blood clots and an infection that caused her to go into septic shock, leaving her fighting for her life.
Along the way, Dowden shared updates with fans on social media, but it wasn’t until writing her book that she truly processed everything.
“It was like therapy,” says Dowden. “Because, especially with my Crohn’s disease, I didn’t ever really process it, I kind of just left it there and tried to get on with my life.
“I think it was only when I was in a low place with my cancer, I was like – OK, let’s go through and take everything out, get it all down, get all my feelings and frustrations out. So, I do think it was a bit like therapy for me.”
Just 11 when she started suffering attacks of excruciating pain, sickness and diarrhoea, she was in and out of hospital throughout her teens. She was finally diagnosed with the lifelong inflammatory bowel condition Crohn’s aged 19, which meant that for years, she and her parents were battling for answers.
Dowden, who started dance lessons aged eight after being wowed by a disco contest at a caravan park clubhouse while on holiday in Cornwall, refused to let go of her dreams though. She recalls in the book how as soon as Strictly burst onto TV screens in 2004, she was “entranced” and her goal to get on the show was set.
But while her family’s always been supportive, she remembers the resistance she faced when she told people. ‘I knew what they were thinking: that it was an impossible dream for a small-town girl like me who kept collapsing and having to go to hospital,’ she writes.
Of course, after rising through the ranks on the ballroom and Latin competition circuit with her dance partner and now husband, Ben Jones, in 2017, that Strictly dream became a reality.
Where does Dowden think her determination came from?
“I’m stubborn,” she laughs. “If someone says to me, ‘Amy you can’t’ – I will, I’ll find a way. And I just think, ultimately, dancing makes me so happy. It’s my happy place. It’s my escapism, my passion.
“When it started to get to the point where you realise you get to do what you love as a job for the rest of your life, that’s what kept me going,” she continues. “I was lucky enough at a young age to find a passion, to find what I love – and I think that’s what anybody needs, whether it’s a hobby, certain friends or a relationship, you’ve got to find what fulfils you. And it keeps you going in the toughest times.”
Something else that’s kept her going through the tough times is the love and support of family and friends, which shines through in her book.
“We’re such a strong unit,” she says of her parents, Richard and Gillian, brother Lloyd and twin sister Rebecca. “As a family, we’ve really come together through everything last year, it is one of the things I’m truly so grateful for.”
And her husband, Ben, has been by her side through it all.
“I’m very, very lucky to have Ben. Literally, there’s nothing he wouldn’t do for me.”
In one chapter of her book, Dowden explores the question: what is the secret of success? One of the earliest mottos she remembers really taking to heart was ‘Fail to prepare, prepare to fail’, after seeing it emblazoned on a poster in her school assembly hall – so she’d always thought the keys to success were quite simple: hard work, talent, focus, dedication, etc.
But after she and Ben became dance partners in 2011, and subsequently fell in love (they kept this a secret for six years though, worried about what their dance teachers would say!) then going on to be named British National Latin Dance champions in 2016 at Blackpool, her outlook changed.
‘I think the key ingredient to our success was love,’ she writes in the book. ‘Wholehearted, unquestioning, unlimited, out and out love and affection.’
Reflecting on their relationship today, Dowden adds: “We’ve shared the highs of our lives together, from winning Blackpool to being sat together when I was told I’ve got cancer. We’ve been through so much more than most couples would by this time in our lifespan.
“So yeah, I do think nothing will stop us now. If we’ve got through this, we can get through anything.”
Raising awareness is also a big motivator for Dowden. For years, her health challenges were something she tried to “hide”, but making the 2020 documentary, Strictly Amy: Crohn’s And Me, was a turning point.
“I realised the severity of it, and the importance of speaking out,” she says. “It was also the first time that I actually accepted that it was part of me.”
The flood of messages from people thanking her for making them feel less alone was a huge boost too – which is why she also agreed to let cameras follow her cancer treatment (the resulting BBC documentary, Strictly Amy: Cancer And Me, aired in August).
As for the book, she says: “I just really hope it helps other people, whether it helps somebody who is chasing a dream not to give up, or someone living with chronic illness, or a cancer diagnosis.
“And if anyone can learn anything from it, it’s just to start checking themselves [for lumps]. I didn’t think I’d get breast cancer at 32, and if I wasn’t checking myself, I wouldn’t be here right now.”
Dowden will still need regular check-ups and injections for five years. But right now, she’s back training for Strictly and prepping for a tour in 2025 with co-star Carlos Gu.
“I’m just doing everything I missed out on in the last year and taking every opportunity. I’m grabbing life by its hands and going for it,” Dowden smiles.
“I’m in a really good place. Because of what I’ve gone through and actually processing it, and being back to doing what I love…
“I do think it’s changed me as a person,” she adds of going through cancer. “You don’t know what’s around the corner, tomorrow is not promised. So, live for today, do what makes you happy and surround yourself with the people that make you happy.”
Dancing In The Rain by Amy Dowden is published by Piatkus in hardback on September 5, priced £22.
