Amy Dowden says no one ever asks about chronic condition ‘I’ll have forever’

Amy Dowden has opened up about living with Crohn’s, and the ‘stigma’ surrounding the condition.

The Strictly Come Dancing star, 34, was diagnosed with the chronic condition as a child.

Crohn’s disease is a type of inflammatory bowel disease, that causes symptoms including abdominal pain, severe diarrhoea, fatigue, and weight loss.

Amy was also diagnosed with breast cancer in May last year, and thankfully got the all clear in February.

During her chemotherapy treatment, the pro dancer kept fans updated on her health, and recently told more of her story – including fertility struggles, sepsis, and losing her hair – in BBC documentary Strictly Amy: Cancer and Me.

However, Amy has now shared that ‘no one ever asks me about my Crohn’s’, despite the fact she’ll have the condition forever.

She told Prima: ‘There’s a stigma – people don’t want to talk about poo and guts.

‘I suffered with it for eight years before I even got a diagnosis, and I’ve always wanted to go into more depth to raise awareness. I was able to do that in my book.’

She added: ‘My cancer experience has helped me not to stress about my Crohn’s, as that had to take a backseat. Now, I think: “If it took a backseat then, it can take a backseat for ever.”‘

Talking about her book, she added: ‘When you suffer from a chronic illness or cancer, there’s a weird sense that the world is spinning without you. Your normality is taken away and you lose a sense of purpose.

‘I’m usually such a busy bee, but I was waking up every day and not doing what I love, so the book gave me purpose in what was a very lonely dark time.’

Speaking about her writing process for the book, Amy reflected on some memories that were ‘painful’ to recall, including being hospitalised with sepsis.

She said: ‘I was so lucky that I pulled through. My chemotherapy journey was still very raw, so that was tough, and I wasn’t the energetic Amy I once was, so there were times when writing the book where I’d be like, “OK, that’s enough for today.”‘

She went on: ‘Cancer has changed me forever. I’ll never take anyone or anything for granted, and I know my own self-worth now.

‘You could maybe have walked over me in the past, but now I know my strength.’

In 2021, Amy fronted BBC documentary Strictly Amy: Crohn’s and Me, talking about the chronic illness that affected her since childhood, and encouraging others to talk about it too.

Speaking to Metro.co.uk at the time, she said: ‘My health dictated so much of my life from the age of 11 and I had these enormous plans for doing things, and I just wanted to get on with my life, just push it to one side and say, “I’m Amy the dancer, not Amy with Crohn’s disease.”’

But as she’s got older, she’s accepted it and reflects on the unexpected ways it might have changed her life: ‘It’s made me who I am and I’m not sure I’d have achieved what I have done if it wasn’t for my Crohn’s.’

Amy was made an MBE for her services to the inflammatory bowel disease earlier in the year and is an advocate and ambassador for charity Crohn’s & Colitis UK.

Read the full interview in Prima’s October issue, on sale Wednesday August 28.

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