BBC Strictly Come Dancing's Amy Dowden says The Voice's Tom Fletcher 'saved her life'

Strictly Come Dancing professional Amy Dowden has opened up about how her partnership with Tom Fletcher on the 2021 series of the BBC show 'saved her life'. The dancer, aged 34, was diagnosed with breast cancer just a day before she was due to go on her honeymoon with husband Ben Jones in 2023.

In what proved to be the most difficult year of her life, Amy underwent a mastectomy, chemotherapy, fertility treatment and nearly lost her life to sepsis. Now free from cancer and 'doing well', the Strictly star previously spoke to This Morning hosts Sian Welby and Craig Doyle about her journey and how her time on the BBC programme prompted her to check her breasts, leading to her diagnosis.

Amy was partnered with McFly's Tom Fletcher, who is also a mentor on The Voice, back in 2021, and formed a close bond with the pop star and his wife Giovanna. She recalled how that friendship saved her life after she joined Giovanna on a trek to Wales with breast cancer charity CoppaFeel! a few months before her diagnosis.

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Amy admitted she felt like a 'hypocrite' as she didn't regularly check herself, with the trip reminding her of the importance of doing so. She explained: "The Fletchers welcomed me into their family home and I became really close to Giovanna Fletcher," reports Birmingham Live.

"She got me on the CoppaFeel! trek and whilst I was there I thought hang on, I'm a bit of a hypocrite. I'm here getting everybody to check their chests and I don't check myself."

Amy added: "Then a few months later, unfortunately I found a lump. So really Strictly kind of saved my life by pairing me with Tom Fletcher because had I not been checking I wouldn't be sat here right now."

Amy still has to undergo treatment each month but said her tests were 'good'. She added: "I still have my monthly injection and I will do for the next five years but at the moment my tests are good, everything is positive."