Since 2017, Amy Dowden has been dazzling Strictly fans with her dance moves alongside celebrity partners like Tom Fletcher, JJ Chalmers, and Karim Zeroual.
The professional dancer from Caerphilly, Wales, has been twirling, promenading, and cha-cha-chaing since she was just eight years old and has numerous accomplishments under her belt, including holding the Guinness World Record for the most back-Charleston kick-steps in 30 seconds.
However, the 32-year-old's next career move is currently up in the air after she revealed that she's been diagnosed with breast cancer.
In a post on Instagram, she shared that she wasn't sure if she would be returning to Strictly right now, but she is "determined to get back on that dance floor".
This shocking news comes less than a year into Amy's marriage to fellow professional dancer Ben Jones.
Amy and Ben met in 2011 but kept their relationship a secret for six years because they worried what their dance teachers would say.
The pair got engaged on New Year's Eve in 2017 and finally tied the knot in July 2022 after having to cancel their original wedding plan in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Their wedding took place at a five-star venue in Gower Peninsula, South Wales, and Amy told Hello! Magazine it was everything she'd dreamed of since she was young.
Among the famous guests at the stunning ceremony were some of Amy's Strictly family including bridesmaid, Dianne Buswell.
Since the age of 11, Amy has been living with Crohn's disease - a condition which she says has seen her hospitalised more than 100 times.
She opened up about her experience with the disease, which causes inflammation of the lining of the digestive system, in a BBC documentary in October 2020 called Amy: Crohn's and Me.
In the film, she told how Strictly had got her through the dark times, but also showed behind-the-scenes footage of how she would vomit and pass out following a Strictly tour.
She said in the film: "To the public watching me with all our make-up, fake tan, glitz, glamour, and spotlights, it's a different world. I don't think they could ever imagine this could be me the next day.
"I knew things weren't right but your body goes: 'Right you've got to get through this, you don't want to let anyone down, you can do this.' And you can just push yourself through anything."
She heartbreakingly added: "I can't think of how many times I've been in hospital. It's got to be at least over 100 times. When I was 18 or 19 it was every month at least for a week."
The dancer, who takes steroids to help manage her condition, claims she has been body shamed because of the bloating the medication causes.
In an interview with the BBC, she explained: "I can remember doing a dance competition when I was about 19 or 20, I'd been on a really high dose of steroids and it bloated me a lot - and my face changed, I called it the guinea pig face. My costume was really tight.
"It took me a lot to get on the dance floor. I remember walking onto the floor and this professional dancer shouted out 'she's got a fat bottom' and a 'thick middle' - well, that's the polite way of saying it. That comment has stayed with me for the rest of my life and when I go on steroids, it's the first thing I hear.
"She didn't know what I'd been through and instead of dancing I just wanted to run off and cry."
The documentary won a BAFTA Cymru award and Amy was also given a Points of Light award by Rishi Sunak for raising awareness of Crohn's disease at Downing Street.
As she now faces her own breast cancer journey, the Strictly star plans to also raise awareness of this disease too.
Speaking to Hello! she said: "With what I've done for Crohn's, I want to do the same here.
"If I can try and turn this negative into a positive, it's going to help me get through this."
She went on to share how she never thought this would happen to her at such a young age.
The situation is especially heartbreaking, as she previously watched her own mother suffer from cancer when she was 50.
Speaking as a patron of Tenovus Cancer Care, Amy previously said: "My Mum had thyroid cancer and breast cancer when I was younger, and it was tough to watch her go through it. It's important to remember the effect cancer has on the whole family – it can be just as difficult watching your loved one go through it, and that can take a toll on everyone's health."
Last year, Amy joined I'm A Celebrity winner Giovanna Fletcher to embark on a charity hike for CoppaFeel, a charity that encourages women to check their breasts.
During the hike, she said: "Would love any donation possible towards this fantastic charity which is very close to my heart after watching my mum and close friend battle with breast cancer."
She went on to share during her interview with Hello! how it was her work with CoppaFeel that helped her find the lump in her own breast, which she came across while in the shower, on holiday with her husband - and the check might have "potentially saved her life".
Amy's husband, as well as close friends Giovanna, Tom Fletcher, Dianne Buswell, and other Strictly stars have all been supporting her through this difficult time.
