Strictly star Amy Dowden wipes away tears as girl, 8, with cancer reveals extraordinary achievement

After being diagnosed with cancer earlier this year, the Strictly Come Dancing pro, 33, will miss this year’s season of the reality competition.

She recently shaved her head before undergoing more chemotherapy treatment, and she made a victorious return to the Strictly Come Dancing ballroom earlier this month.

Amy was also seen dressed to the nines at Grosvenor House for the awards event on Sunday, which aired on Thursday night, following her special night in Elstree.

Midway through the night, the dancer was brought to tears when it was announced that a little girl had been battling a rare kind of kidney cancer since 2021.

Freya Harris, 8, was diagnosed with Wilms’ tumour, which typically affects children under the age of five, and has gone through ‘hell and back’.

Freya had one of her kidneys removed when it was determined that she had stage four cancer, as well as lung surgery and rigorous chemotherapy.

She surmounted the odds after starting treatment in 2022, when she experienced a rare chemotherapy side effect that caused organ failure.

Despite receiving intensive cancer treatment earlier this year, Freya found time to participate at Crufts, where she finished second.

Cameras in the crowd noticed Amy, who, like many others, began to cry and wipe away a few tears after hearing the narrative.

Amy reported earlier this month that, like Freya, she had potentially fatal side effects from her chemotherapy treatment.

‘I remember going into hospital and them telling me I had an infection, but the following day it got very bad, I was unresponsive to antibiotics for hours.’

She told The Mirror: My last memory is a load of doctors around me in the early hours of Sunday morning. On Monday… I [went] into septic shock.’

After her unexpected appearance on Strictly, it was discovered that she had opted not to wear a wig at the last minute.

Strictly Come Dancing airs Saturday on BBC One at 6.30pm.