Strictly Come Dancing professional Amy Dowden has said her heart is “breaking” after having to pull out of the rest of the dance competition due to a foot injury.
The Welsh dancer, 34, returned to competing in the BBC show this series after missing out last year due to undergoing cancer treatment.
In an Instagram post, she said she felt “free again” after getting to focus on choreography rather than cancer.
She wrote: “My heart is breaking right now. The past few months I finally felt like me again. Cancer was no longer the first thing I thought of when I woke up.
“It was choreography, music choices, which dances in which order, what we needed to work on. I felt free again. My goal since hearing those words you have cancer was to get back on the strictly dance floor. It’s been such a challenge to get back, one I devoted 2024 too.
“Which with my incredible team we got there. Something I wanted to do for myself and loved ones. There was no feeling like it dancing again in the ballroom with my Strictly family.”
She also told her celebrity partner, JLS star JB Gill, and his new dance partner Lauren Oakley, that she will be their “biggest cheerleader” for the rest of the competition.
A Strictly spokesperson said: “Sadly, Amy Dowden MBE will not be partaking in the rest of the competition this year.
“Whilst Amy focuses on her recovery following a foot injury, fellow Professional Dancer, Lauren Oakley, will step in as JB’s dance partner.
“The health and wellbeing of everyone involved in Strictly are always the utmost priority. The whole Strictly family sends Amy love and well wishes.”
A former British national Latin dance champion, Dowden joined Strictly in 2017, and in 2019 she was a finalist with TV presenter Karim Zeroual.
In 2019, Dowden revealed she suffered from Crohn’s disease and fronted the BBC programme Strictly Amy: Crohn’s And Me, in which she spoke about her battle with the condition and met other people with Crohn’s to hear about their experiences.
Dowden first found a lump in her breast the day before going to the Maldives on her honeymoon with fellow professional dancer Ben Jones, and was subsequently diagnosed with stage three breast cancer.
In February, she announced tests showed she has “no evidence of disease” and it was later confirmed she would return to Strictly Come Dancing for its 20th anniversary series.
In January 2022, she was admitted to hospital in Manchester following a Crohn’s flare-up while on the Strictly live tour.
Dowden documented her journey undergoing cancer treatment after seeing the impact on others of her documentary discussing her Crohn’s disease and how it had helped her “accept” her own condition for the “first time ever”.
