Amy Dowden choked back tears on Instagram as she admitted she “hates looking at herself in the mirror right now” during her breast cancer journey on Tuesday.
The Strictly Come Dancing pro, 33, also revealed she started cancer rehabilitation before undergoing her final round of chemotherapy on Thursday.
Amy, who was officially diagnosed with the disease in May, discovered a lump in her right breast in April, a day before she and her husband Ben Jones left for a belated honeymoon in the Maldives after their wedding last July.
In a video, she told her fans: “So I just put on some makeup because I have to go to the hospital soon, but this morning I just started my… I’m going to call it. .. my rehabilitation, and I feel so good about it.
“I’m not going to lie, like I hate looking at myself in the mirror right now. And I know many of us who have been through this journey feel the same way.
Emotional: Amy Dowden, 33, choked back tears on Instagram as she admitted she ‘hates looking at herself in the mirror right now’ during her breast cancer journey on Tuesday
Teary: The Strictly Come Dancing pro also revealed she started cancer rehabilitation before undergoing her final round of chemotherapy on Thursday
‘I’m losing my hair, look I barely have any eyelashes here, it looks like I have a lot on them (pointing to the eye) but I guess it’s just the way I did them, but I’ve lost so much of my eyelashes.
‘I had my eyebrows microbladed just before I started chemotherapy – I’m very grateful to have a few on top – I know they won’t last long. So it looks like I have a lot, but to be honest, I don’t.”
Amy discussed how she doesn’t feel ‘comfortable in her own skin’ due to her weight gain – having to take steroids and not being able to dance.
She added: ‘I’ve gained quite a bit of weight from the steroids. I normally dance all day, every day, and since May I haven’t been able to because I had my mastectomy and had to wait six weeks.
‘Then I started chemotherapy with my port, with all the complications I had there. So it’s clear that I have gained weight.
“I’ve gone up two dress sizes and all the time I’ve been telling myself, all that matters now is getting better, getting through chemotherapy, getting through this, but it’s clear that I’m really not comfortable feel in my skin. And you know I want to dance again.”
Emotionally looking to the future and trying to stay positive, Amy added: ‘I may never be the same Amy, you know in terms of me, mentally and physically, because I’ve had a mastectomy, but – I’m getting a bit emotional. – I started that journey.
Struggle: Amy, who was officially diagnosed with the disease in May, found a lump in her right breast in April, a day before she and her husband Ben Jones left for a belated honeymoon in the Maldives after their wedding last July
Opening up: “I’m not going to lie, like I hate looking at myself in the mirror right now. And I know many of us who have been through this journey feel the same.”
Holding back tears: Amy discussed how she doesn’t feel ‘comfortable in her own skin’ due to her weight gain – having to take steroids and not being able to dance
Brave: The Strictly star opened up about hormone treatment forcing her body into menopause and fears she might not be able to have children with new husband Ben Jones
Honest: Amy recently choked back tears as she discussed her ‘extremely tough’ battle with breast cancer on Channel 4’s Stand Up To Cancer last week
Difficult: She told presenter Davina McCall: ‘I’ve had sepsis, blood clots, had to have hormone treatment and then been put into menopause’
“Obviously I’m nowhere near where I was before, but I can’t wait to get back in the gym and do some gentle exercises and start this journey.
“I want to come back stronger and I know it won’t come back overnight… my body has been through it… but I started that journey today.
“I can’t wait to get to the strongest and healthiest Amy. I’m not going to rush things, but in 2024 I’m going to make sure I can achieve the best version of myself.’
It comes after Amy recently opened up about hormone treatment forcing her body into menopause and fears she might not be able to have children with Ben.
She told host Davina McCall: ‘I’ve had sepsis, blood clots, I’ve had to have hormone treatment and then I was put into menopause.’
“When I sat in that room and the doctor said, ‘Yes Amy, you have cancer,’ that was one stitch, and then what are your ‘fertility plans?’ ‘.
Because I have an estrogen-fueled cancer and they basically have to shut down my ovaries, and my husband is right next to me and we’ve only been married for a few months!’.
Adding, “And it’s just heartbreaking and that’s something that I never knew, and the emotional impact of it has just been so heavy.”
