Strictly pro dancer Amy Dowden reveals her terrifying battle with deadly Crohn’s disease that could end her career

SHE'S one of Strictly's brightest stars, but only now has Amy Dowden revealed how hard she's had to fight a potentially deadly disease to achieve her dream.

Since her teens, the Welsh dancer, who's this year partnered with JJ Chalmers, has been working towards the burning ambition to be on the BBC1 show while constantly battling crippling Crohn's disease.

In a new documentary, Strictly Amy: Crohn's and Me, she faces the bittersweet realisation that the goal of getting on Strictly may have helped her overcome her illness, but the painful condition could one day bring her top flight career to an abrupt end.

Amy, 30, said: "Strictly has been more than a dance show to me, it got me through the darkest times of my illness. For me it was a big inspiration to keep me dancing.

"Dancing has pulled me through my Crohn's but it's a battle. I live in fear that what I love the most could be taken away.

"And I've been more ill this year than I have been in a long time."

In the BBC documentary she reveals for the first time just how much pain and heartbreak she's suffered because of the condition, which causes severe inflammation and ulcers in the digestive system.

Her ongoing trauma included being hospitalised this spring - just months before production started on this year's Strictly.

Amy, who comes from Caerphilly in South Wales, bravely agreed to be filmed during these dark moments.

She wanted to lay bare the contrast between her life on stage, and the reality of battling Crohn's behind the scenes.

In one scene we see her vomiting and collapsing just a day after completing the last Strictly tour, and Amy ends up being rushed into hospital.

She said: "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.'

"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."

Amy first started suffering from symptoms when she was 11 years old - just as her dance career was taking off. But doctors didn't diagnose her with Crohn's until she was 19 years old.

During those years she was constantly in and out of hospitals with medics baffled as to what was wrong with her.

Often breaking down in tears, she says: "All the time I spent in hospital when I was younger, it was like my second home. I associate it with pain. I dont have any happy memories.

"I remember begging doctors to cut me open to take my stomach out. I used to be in so much pain, it used to make me pass out. It was just like a knife stabbing me.

"I got to one night and I think it was three or four o'clock in the morning, I was just covered in sick. I'd had enough. I rang my parents and said: 'I'm going.' I said to them "I can't do this anymore." I was just in so much pain.

"I said: 'I'm done, I can't fight this anymore.' and my parents were at the hospital half an hour later."

Amy reveals how she actually celebrated when medics diagnosed the disease because it finally meant she could get the right treatment, support and advice.

It also paved the way for her to achieve her goal of getting a place on Strictly.

She joined the show in 2017 and last year reached the final after being partnered with Karim Zeroual, 26.

Understanding the disease also meant that she could explain to her colleagues on the dance show what she was suffering from. One of the first she told was Oti Mabuse, 30, who is seen in the doc texting Amy when she is rushed into hospital.

She said: "On my first season I shared an apartment with Oti - and I opened my bathroom cabinet to get toothpaste and she gasped and said: 'What is all this?'

"All my meds were there. I can remember sitting on the bed and telling her and she got really emotional."

One of her greatest supporters has been head judge Shirley Ballas, 60, who knows what she's going through because her own niece also has Crohn's.

Shirley has always been there for them both, but admits: "It's heartbreaking to sit on this side of the fence and see how it's affected these two beautiful young ladies."

Amy also gained the backing from other pros when she joined Strictly, particularly as she was already known as one of the best dancers in the business.

In the doc Dianne Buswell, 31, says: "She can still be at the top of her game even while having Crohn's. I think it's a massive point that she proves."

Katya Jones, 31, adds: "Nobody on the competition circuit knew that she had anything wrong with her. I think Amy doesn't take any time for granted because you don't want to miss the big championships that you've been getting ready for years for."

Winning a place on Strictly, which first saw her paired with Brian Conley, 59, wasn't her only great achievement. Along with Ben Jones, her professional dance partner and fiance, they form the current British National Champions in Latin American Dance.

The couple were set to reach another milestone this year, with plans to get married and launch a UK dance tour together. But it all came crashing down in March when Covid forced the UK into lockdown - and Amy suffered another attack of Crohn's.

She said: "Over lockdown I had one of the worst flair ups I have ever experienced. For weeks I was in pain unable to eat, and drifting in and out of consciousness. I was stabilised with morphine and steroids. Slowly I started to get better. But it was June before I was back on my feet."

But like this year's Strictly, she came back against the odds and says the job is still her greatest strength when times are tough.

Amy said: "Dance has definitely been my saviour. It's got me through my lowest points. That's what's saved me and kept me going. And finally my childhood dreams became true.

"I often stand there just before I dance and think: 'Look how far I've come.' You can tell I'm always in my element. In fact people say: 'Why do you smile so much?' Because I love it."

• Strictly Amy: Crohn's and Me is on BBC iPlayer now.