Amy Dowden lays bare 'tough' fertility treatment journey after cancer

Amy Dowden has spoken about her experience of having fertility treatment which plays out in BBC documentary Strictly Amy: Cancer and Me.

In February this year, Dowden revealed there was no evidence of the disease in a major milestone. The 34-year-old Strictly star had invited the cameras into her life last May, just six days after receiving her breast cancer diagnosis at 32, to shoot documentary film Strictly Amy: Cancer and Me.

Chemotherapy can cause fertility issues and so before starting chemo, Dowden made the decision to get fertility treatment - where her eggs were collected and inseminated with her husband Ben's sperm so they could then be stored for later use.

As she put her heart on the line in the documentary, the dancer said going through fertility treatment was "hard" when they were still trying to get to grips with her cancer diagnosis.

Read more: Strictly's Amy Dowden shares what gave her confidence to tell cancer story

Amy Dowden talks 'tough' fertility treatment

Dowden told Yahoo and other publications: "After going through cancer, when people ask, 'When are you going to have babies?' It's raw because we've just literally been for fertility treatment. That was so hard. Our hormones, our feelings, we were chucked into it with no preparation, no research, nothing.

"We were still so emotional. Still trying to understand the cancer, never mind our fertility treatment, and then the burden of a worry that we might not be able to become a mum and dad as well at the same time, it's so tough.

"And do you know what? I didn't even know that cancer and chemotherapy can affect fertility problems. So now I know, anybody going through a cancer diagnosis, male or female, I would never dare ask them about children because it's so raw and sensitive."

Pressures to start a family

This was why Dowden highlighted this particular factor as one of the things she would love viewers to take away from the show. "Absolutely check yourselves," she said. "And fertility, no one should be under pressure of when you're gonna start children."

She explained: "Nobody knows what people are going through behind closed doors and it shouldn't be a given if someone's gonna have a child. It's just there's no need to ask it. People will have them when they want them. You don't know what people are going through.

"I didn't know and still don't know if my Crohn's disease will ever affect anything. I know of friends who have tried and tried and tried for children and it's not been possible. It's been so heartbreaking every time someone's asked them."

In the documentary, Dowden was amazed to find out the embryologists had frozen five embryos. "There are five little Amy and Ben's in the freezer," she celebrated on camera after receiving the call. Looking back on that moment, Dowden explained her body is still in recovery having finished chemotherapy in November last year. Now her focus remains on living life to her absolute fullest.

She said: "I only finished chemo in November, so my body's still on quite a big recovery journey through that. But also, I've got a hormone fed cancer. So, ideally, I need to still have my monthly injections for five years so I'd be put into menopause but my oncologist will review it in a few years.

"When you're pregnant, more hormones are produced, meaning that the risk of the cancer returning is at a higher risk. It's not something that the oncologist or anyone would recommend right now. Being through cancer, I only finished in November, then to put my body through that. I think it's just about getting myself back to where I was and enjoying life and taking pressures off right now."

Dowden shows Dianne Buswell her reconstructed breast

Emotions run high throughout the documentary, including the heartwarming moment where Dowden showed her Strictly bestie Dianne Buswell her reconstructed breast after having a mastectomy. A mastectomy surgery removes all breast tissue from a breast to treat breast cancer. For two weeks, the Strictly star said she didn't look at her own breast but then she bravely showed her breast on camera while in conversation with her friend Buswell.

"I showed my husband first," she told us of the moving moment. "Dianne and I have been really close friends since I joined Strictly. She was one of my bridesmaids. Dianne has spoken openly about body confidence issues in the past herself and we understand each other."

She added: "We know, being in the public eye and being dancers and wanting this perfect body, which I really don't look at wanting a perfect body at all anymore. My body has got me through. I'm surprised I'm so proud of what it's got through but Diane understood where it was coming from. So showing her, I wanted just somebody to tell me, other than my husband, it's fabulous.

"It's like when you when someone tells you look good and make you feel better does that make sense? Diane got it. She's a dancer, too. We're so honest and open me and Di. It was so spontaneous at the time. It just felt like I hadn't seen Diane so long. It was reassuring when she told me she just loved it."

Read more: Amy Dowden’s call to Strictly family during tough time battling cancer

Strictly got Amy Dowden out of bed

As a goal driven person, the idea of getting back to Strictly was what kept Dowden fighting to get well. "That was my life saviour," she said. "To push me through, to get me back on that dance floor. That was the goal."

Ever since she joined the show in 2017, Dowden has been loved for her bubbly personality. Strictly fans were devastated when she was unable to take part last year due to Dowden having chemotherapy. Getting back to Strictly spurred Dowden on to keep pushing through the "bad days".

"Sometimes it was the reason to push myself to get out of bed," she explained. "To be able to go down to Strictly during treatment. I'd go to chemo and in my mind I'd think get through these bad days and I get to go to Strictly next week. It gave me that push I needed."

The TV personality said anyone going through cancer needs to find something they love and make it their goal. "It can just be simply going to the park, going to dinner with your friends, getting into the cinema like you just need to have that little goal in your mind," she said. For her, it was Strictly.

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Amy Dowden tells her story in her own words

Dowden was overwhelmed by the love she had from the public as well as her nearest and dearest. Her loved ones remained upbeat and positive to her but they were hit hard by Dowden's diagnosis. "It affected them massively," she said. "I could see after my sepsis the pain in my parents' eyes every day. It has been so tough."

She added: "Watching this film back, when I'm living in it you're in survival mode, and get through from treatment to treatment. Then they remain so positive to me but obviously they were breaking down behind closed doors... We're so lucky that me and my friends and family, we all are one big close unit, and we make sure we talk openly, we’re there for each other. Now we're not scared to cry in front of one another."

It was important for Dowden to make this documentary film to raise awareness and tell her own story in her own words. There are moments where we are celebrating with Dowden and there are moments where we are crying with her too. "I've always been a very open and honest person," she said. "I have to do justice for everybody else going through this and you have to be raw. You have to be true to yourself."

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Don't miss BBC One documentary Strictly Amy: Cancer and Me available on Monday at 8pm.