Amy Dowden has shared a health update as she battles cancer.
The Strictly Come Dancing star was diagnosed with grade three breast cancer earlier this year.
She is currently receiving chemotherapy treatment but has now revealed she experienced a ‘setback’ in her health as she contracted sepsis, which turned out to be 'life-threatening' for her.
Opening up about the scary ordeal that meant she had to be rushed to hospital, Amy spoke to Hello! about the incident which happened after her first round of chemo.
“I wasn't feeling too bad that day, just sick, but a couple of hours later I started having a temperature of 37.7 degrees Celsius. At the time, I didn’t realise that having a temperature of 37.5 or above could be fatal for a chemo patient. I just thought it was my reaction to chemo, but as it turned out, I had already got an infection”.
Amy had been at home with her mum, Gillian, when she started to feel very ill as she was ‘breathless and complaining of a pain in her chest’.
“I felt freezing cold but I was all clammy and shaking. My mum and dad rang my red card [which provides the chemotherapy team’s contact details and current treatment information] and they said to hang up and ring the ambulance”.
When paramedics arrived at her home, they advised the professional dancer to go straight to hospital but Amy was reluctant.
“I didn't want to go into hospital; at the time I didn’t realise how ill I was. I knew it was a Saturday night, so A&E would probably be crowded, and it was dangerous being around people as it’s more likely you’ll pick up an infection”.
“On chemo, you don't have your white blood cells to fight infection. We now know I had the infection just before I started chemo, but we were never able to pinpoint what actually caused it”.
After being reassured she would be isolated in hospital, Amy agreed to go in and was immediately treated in the Intensive Care Unit due to her having ‘dangerously low blood pressure’.
Amy’s mum admitted, “We didn’t know what to do with ourselves, everything was looking very serious. What I couldn’t believe is how quick the situation can change and how little time you have to respond”.
Dowden went on to explain, “The doctors and nurses were telling me I had sepsis and that it was life-threatening, but I wasn’t taking it in. I didn’t become properly aware until later. I told my dad, ‘I’ve got sepsis’, and he said, ‘I know!’”.
The 33-year-old returned home on August 8, only to be back in hospital on her birthday, August 10, due to a rise in her temperature.
“I just got very, very unlucky. I’m also more prone to infections because my Crohn’s means I have a lower immune system”.
