Amy Dowden has revealed she was close to dying after developing sepsis during cancer treatment last year.
The 33-year-old Strictly Come Dancing actress went into septic shock after her first session of chemotherapy for stage 3 breast cancer in May last year, when doctors delivered awful news to her family.
Amy claimed that her parents, Gillian and Richard, and husband, Ben, were warned she would not be able to function for more than 16 hours before her organs failed.
She was transported to the hospital with an infection after falling at home, but physicians told her family that she would be able to return home.
However, the next morning they learned that Amy, who had lately shown that there is no longer any trace of sickness in her body, had gotten sepsis, the same infection that had killed her aunt a year before.
The doctor also informed her parents and husband that the blood clot in her lung remained ‘unresponsive’ to therapy.
Appearing on Andy Coulson’s Crisis What Crisis? podcast, the Strictly dancer said: ‘My parents went into meltdown mode, Ben went into protection mode of them, and when they got to the hospital I wasn’t in the room.
‘I was having an emergency CT scan and the doctor had just said to my – my mum had to walk away.
‘My husband said that he’d said my heart rate and my blood pressure was so low that I probably wouldn’t function more than sixteen hours, my organs would go into failure. They felt I’d gone into septic shock.’
Amy did begin to respond to new medications, however it was difficult to wake up and witness how devastated her parents were by the event.
She recalled: ‘I saw the pain in my parents’ eyes, and I don’t think they’ve been the same since.
‘It was so tough for them to have watched that, especially after what we’d been through with my auntie. And yes, I don’t think they’ve been same or never will be the same again.’
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Last month, Amy shared some incredible news with the world, celebrating on Instagram as she revealed there was ‘no evidence of disease’, which she admitted were ‘words I dreamed of’.
She wrote: ‘My biggest accomplishment yet! I won’t be getting the all-clear for 5 years especially with a hormone fed cancer. But it was all worth it. Words I never thought I’d hear at one point.
‘‘So grateful for all the care I received and continue to have. To my family and friends who supported me unconditionally and to you guys! Thank you!’
Macmillan cancer support
If you or someone you care about has been diagnosed with cancer, Macmillan can offer support and information.
You can contact their helpline on 0808 808 00 00 (7 days a week from 8am to 8pm), use their webchat service, or visit their site for more information.