Strictly's Amy Dowden gives a health update after beginning her breast cancer treatment in hospital

Amy Dowden gave a health update on Thursday morning after having surgery as she begins her hospital treatment for breast cancer.

The Strictly Come Dancing star, 32, announced she’d been diagnosed with breast cancer last week after discovering a lump on her breast while preparing for her honeymoon with her husband Ben Jones.

And on Wednesday she said she was in hospital as she shared a snap in her gown and told how she was ‘more determined than ever to get back on the dance floor’.

After a surgery she then gave a new update, writing on her Story: ‘Surgery went well. Big thanks to my two surgeons and nurses who have been so utterly amazing and looking after me.

‘Very sore but focusing on the positives they said the surgery went well! Thanks for all the support and messages.’

Brave: Amy Dowden gave a health update on Thursday morning after having surgery as she begins her hospital treatment for breast cancer

Sharing: After a surgery she then gave a new update, writing on her Story: ‘Surgery went well. Big thanks to my two surgeons and nurses who have been so utterly amazing and looking after me’

Amy took to Instagram to share a snap from her hospital bed the day before, writing she was ‘more determined than ever’ to get back on the Strictly dancefloor.

Her post’s caption read: ‘Step one to beating cancer! Rrrrrrready for this fight and more determined than ever to get back on the dance floor.’

Many of Amy’s Strictly co-stars shared their own well-wishes for the star in the comments underneath her post with Karen Hauer writing: ‘Love you ♥️ you got this.’

Tom Fletcher added: ‘Sending you all the love today. Us Fletchers are right behind you. X.’

Former It Takes Two host Zoe Ball commented: ‘huge love and strength to you beautiful amy.’

Amy has received a wave of public support from her Strictly co-stars since publicly sharing her diagnosis, with producers confirming her position on the show will remain vacant until she returns.

The Strictly Come Dancing professional shared her diagnosis on Instagram in May and discussed the possibility of returning to the BBC show for its new series later this year.

She wrote: ‘Hey all, I’ve got some news which isn’t easy to share. I’ve recently been diagnosed with breast cancer but I’m determined to get back on that dance floor before you know it. Welsh love Amy.’

Amazing: On Wednesday she said she was in hospital as she shared a snap in her gown and told how she was ‘more determined than ever to get back on the dance floor’

The dancer has battled gut condition Crohn’s disease since she was a child and said she has already been through ‘quite a lot’ in her life with health struggles.

She told HELLO at the time: ‘You just don’t ever think it’s going to happen to you. I hadn’t thought it was possible to get breast cancer at my age. My mum has had breast cancer, but she had it at a later age, in her 50s.’

Amy said it was taking part in the CoppaTrek! walk last June in support of breast health awareness charity CoppaFeel! that led her to discover her own cancer.

She realised that she doesn’t ‘check her breasts’ and then made a conscious effort to check herself, saying CoppaFeel! has ‘potentially saved her life’.

‘I don’t know how long this lump could have been there before I would have noticed and done something about it,’ she added.

Amy said she found a lump in her right breast in April, a day before she and her husband flew to the Maldives for a belated honeymoon after their wedding last July.

The dancer said she was ‘in shock’ and decided to keep an eye on the lump, before going to the doctor when the lump grew on her return home.

She was immediately sent for an emergency referral, where she was told the lump looked ‘suspicious’ and to ‘prepare for the worst’.

After a biopsy, Amy was told she had grade three breast cancer, saying her first question was when she could get back on the dance floor.

Grade three cancer is when the cells look very different to normal breast cells and tend to spread more quickly. The grade describes how a cancer cell looks under a microscope.

It is different to a cancer stage, which describes the size of the cancer and how far it has spread. Amy is yet to find out what stage of cancer she has.

Amy said her cancer has been caught ‘early’ and she is now waiting for more information before she is given a full treatment plan, which will include surgery.

She is waiting for an MRI scan and a biopsy after medics found a second lump in her right breast, and she will be given a full prognosis after that step.

After sharing her diagnosis on Instagram, Amy was flooded with comments of support from her fellow Strictly pros and stars who appeared on the show.

Scary: Amy announced she’d been diagnosed with breast cancer last week after discovering a lump on her breast while preparing for her honeymoon with her husband Ben Jones

Happy: Amy with husband Ben Jones. The couple married in South Wales last July after the coronavirus pandemic forced them to postpone their original wedding ceremony

Tight knit community: Amy has credited her Strictly friends for their support (L-R Dianne Buswell, Nadiya Bychkova and Amy Dowden in 2017)

Amy has dealt with an array of health struggles over the years after being diagnosed with Crohn’s disease at the age of 11.

Crohn’s disease is described by the NHS as a ‘lifelong condition’, which sees parts of the digestive system inflamed.

Among other symptoms, suffers can experience extreme abdominal pain, vomiting, exhaustion and diarrhoea.