Strictly’s Amy Dowden Celebrates One-Year Married After Cancer Diagnosis: ‘Not The Anniversary We Planned’
Amy Dowden and her husband Benjamin Jones have celebrated their first wedding anniversary weeks after the Strictly Come Dancing professional shared her cancer diagnosis.
The 32 year old dancer publicly revealed her breast cancer news in May, explaining how she sought medical advice after finding a lump in her breast in April, just days before she and Benjamin jetted off to the Maldives for their delayed honeymoon.
On Sunday, Amy shared a post on Instagram commemorating her and Benjamin’s milestone celebrations while heartbreakingly adding that they haven’t had “the anniversary or year planned”.
Alongside a series of snaps from their beautiful South Wales wedding, Amy wrote: “One year since our special day with our favourite people. What I would do right now to relive this perfect day.
“[It’s] not the anniversary or year we certainly had planned but I am sure and determined to have many more better ones with you!
“Thank you for being by my side, spoiling me, being Mr positive when I’m not and choosing to love me! Love you always,” she added alongside a red heart emoji. Amy added hashtags including ‘love always’ and ‘hard times make strong people’.
Ex-Olympian Colin Jackson, who was partnered with Amy for the 2017 Christmas special of Strictly, commented: ”It was a lovely day, and I feel blessed to have shared it with you guys. Happy anniversary, and yes, let’s stay positive.”
Amy’s fellow Strictly pros rallied round to share their love, with Nancy Xu commenting with four purple hearts as Carlos Gu wrote: “Happy anniversary Ames! Love you both.”
Since joining Strictly, Amy has used her platform to shine a light on life with Crohn’s Disease, which she was diagnosed with aged 19. The star has bravely vowed to approach her cancer with the same openness and recalled the day she discovered her diagnosis in an interview with Hello! Magazine.
Speaking just weeks after meeting with doctors, Amy said: “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.
“They told me it was looking very suspicious and to prepare for the worst, hope for the best. They did the biopsy and then we had to wait.”
Amy was then told she has grade three breast cancer. “Three is the most aggressive,” she told Hello!. “But they feel like they’ve caught mine early and to not be too alarmed because grade 3 would be expected in somebody of my age.”
In June, the dancer underwent a full mastectomy as her right breast was removed in a three-hour surgery.