Finding Inner Strength and Beauty During Your Cancer Journey
“Strictly Dancing” star Amy Dowden, 33, is grateful to her co-stars for supporting her through breast cancer treatment. Amid ongoing chemotherapy, the reality TV star was able to be glammed up and reconnect with her cast mates which lifted her spirits.
Dowden’s chemo treatment has entered the emotional stage of hair loss. It usually begins about three to four weeks after beginning chemotherapy and continues throughout treatment. Fortunately, your hair usually regrows after treatment concludes. Dowden wears a cold cap during infusions to help protect her hair follicles.
If losing your hair is a concern for you ahead of cancer treatment, know you have options like wigs, hats, wraps, and scarves, among other things to maintain your self-esteem.
Patients are encouraged to seek out a support group and talk to a mental health according to psychiatrist Dr. Lori Plutchik. She adds one of the benefits of having supporters encouraging you along your cancer journey helps alleviate stress and anxiety following your diagnosis. Supporters can also help advocate for you during treatment.
“Strictly Dancing” star Amy Dowden, 33, is beyond grateful for the undeterred support from her reality TV co-stars amid ongoing breast cancer treatment. Her emotional journey so far has been met with adversity including a sepsis infection, but the brave dancing star remains positive. SurvivorNet stresses the added value a support group provides to cancer patients which is immensely helpful emotionally and physically, especially during cancer treatment.
“So grateful for my [BBC Strictly] family, yesterday was just what I needed,” Dowden said in an Instagram post.
“I’ve felt part of the whole journey so far! I’ve seen all the group numbers and the process by videos,” Dowden added referring to the cast of professional ballroom dancers on the show.
Dowden was joined by her colleagues on the show which was the perfect pick-me-up she needed amid her ongoing breast cancer journey.
“I loved being made glamorous by the hair and make-up team, putting on a sparkly dress from wardrobe and feeling like Amy again being at my favorite place! So very grateful!” Dowden said as she prepared for her next round of chemotherapy.
LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 26: Amy Dowden and Kevin Clifton on stage at the “Strictly Come Dancing” launch show at Television Centre on August 26, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by Lia Toby/Getty Images)
“Let’s hope no hospital admissions and scares after this one,” she added referring to her recent bout with sepsis amid treatment.
“At the time, I didn’t realize that having a temperature of 37.5C (99.5F) 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,” Dowden told Hello Magazine.
Dowden began feeling ill while with her parents prompting them to rush her to the hospital. She had developed sepsis which is “the body’s extreme response to an infection” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The condition is considered a “life-threatening medical emergency [that] happens when an infection you already have triggers a chain reaction throughout your body.”
“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!”
Amy Dowden’s breast cancer journey began this past April when she discovered the “first lump” just before she was set to go on a honeymoon with her husband.
“I was originally going to have a lumpectomy, radiotherapy, and hormone treatment,” Dowden said during a Coppafeel Instagram chat.
DUDLEY, ENGLAND JULY 24: Amy Dowden takes part in The Queen’s Baton Relay as it visits Dudley as part of the Birmingham 2022 Queens Baton Relay on July 24, 2022, in Dudley, England. The Queen’s Baton Relay is touring England for 25 days in a celebration of sport, culture, and communities during the final countdown to the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games (Photo by Matt Keeble/Getty Images for Birmingham 2022 Queen’s Baton Relay)
A lumpectomy is a breast cancer treatment procedure that removes the cancerous area of the breast. Radiotherapy (radiation) involves using high-energy beams aimed at cancer cells designed to kill them. Hormone treatment is used for hormone receptor-positive cancers, which are actually the most common types of breast cancers. When a tumor is “hormone receptor-positive,” it means that a pathologist has run special tests on the cancer to determine that it is positive for either the estrogen and/or progesterone receptor.
“For women who have hormone-positive breast cancer, it means that they have a cancer that needs estrogen to grow,” medical oncologist Dr. Elizabeth Comen explains to SurvivorNet.
“It needs hormones to grow. So, what we’re trying to do is actually starve the cancer cells or any rouge cancer cells that could have escaped the breast from estrogen. We do that by driving the estrogen levels down or by blocking the ability of estrogen to interact with the estrogen receptor on a cancer cell,” Dr. Comen continued.
WATCH: Understanding hormone therapy for breast cancer.
“Then, after my MRI, they found another tumor so then it changed into a mastectomy, and then, after my mastectomy, unfortunately, they found even more tumors,” Dowden added leading to a stage 3 breast cancer diagnosis. During stage 3, the cancer has spread to nearby lymph nodes.
A mastectomy is a breast cancer procedure that removes the breast, and this could be one or both breasts.
Dowden was told she needed to undergo chemotherapy to begin cancer treatment which made her “scared,” but she bravely moved forward with treatment. Her oncologist reassured her, “With chemo [she’s] got a really good chance of a cure,” BBC reported.
Since she must focus on her health, Dowden is sitting out of this season’s “Strictly Dancing” series. Despite not being able to dance in person, she remains in contact with her team.
Now a couple of months into her chemotherapy treatment, Dowden seems to have improved since her sepsis infection. However, she’s since begun another emotional stage of her cancer journey and that is hair loss.
“Unfortunately, I’m started to shed a lot of hair now,” Dowden said.
Coping With Hair Loss from Cancer Treatment
Hair loss can be an emotional stage of anyone’s cancer journey. SurvivorNet has tips and resources for anyone facing this side effect and struggling to manage it.
“For cancer patients losing one’s hair can be unbelievably stressful. To start with, the dread of losing one’s hair can lead to, some sleepless nights and feelings of anxiety,” Dr. Samantha Boardman, a New York-based psychiatrist and author, told SurvivorNet.
Chemotherapy can cause hair loss. It usually begins about three to four weeks after beginning chemotherapy and continues throughout treatment.
WATCH: Hair loss during chemo.
It happens because this treatment targets quickly dividing cells throughout the body. That includes cancer cells, but also hair cells.
Radiation is another treatment that can lead to hair loss if the hair is in the path of the tumor being treated. Radiation for a brain tumor, for example, may cause hair loss on the head.
“If you do lose hair, it will regrow several weeks or months after treatment,” radiation oncologist at GensisCare Dr. James Taylortold SurvivorNet.
“Fortunately, for most patients, hair loss is not a concern when having radiation therapy.”
Most patients can expect regrowth around four to six weeks after they complete treatment. However, it is possible when your hair grows back you may notice some changes in its color and texture.
Dr. Boardman suggests connecting with others who are experiencing cancer treatment like yours and asking them for first-hand advice.
“Talk to people who have been through it, get their advice, voice your concerns to your caregiver, and see what they can do,” Dr. Boardman added.
If losing your hair is a concern for you ahead of cancer treatment, know you have options like wigs, hats, wraps, and more.
Dowden wears a cold cap during infusions to help protect her hair follicles. With scalp-cooling devices, they were approved by the FDA in recent years first in breast cancer and then in several other cancers.
Dr. Julia Nangia, a medical oncologist at Baylor College of Medicine and a lead author on one of the major studies of the device, says 50% of women were able to keep their hair after four rounds of chemotherapy, and added: “Without the devices, 100% of patients lost their hair.”
There have been some questions of safety when it comes to scalp-cooling, but Dr. Nangia says that when given to people who have solid tumors (like breast, ovarian, colon, and lung cancer) the devices are safe.
Building Support, Staying Connected
If you were recently diagnosed with cancer, you likely know about the wide range of emotions that news can bring. This is one of the most difficult phases of the cancer journey to overcome.
However, it’s during these early stages that a team of supporters can be most useful. Your supporters can be made up of close family members and friends. Your support group can also be filled with people from outside your inner circle.
For Dowden, her support group includes her family and her “Strictly Dancing” family who continue to offer her words of encouragement by highlighting how beautiful she is inside and out.
“Some people don’t need to go outside of their family and friends circle. They feel like they have enough support there,” New York-based psychiatrist Dr. Lori Plutchiktells SurvivorNet.
“But for people who feel like they need a little bit more, it is important to reach out to a mental health professional,” she added.
One of the benefits of having supporters includes helping alleviate stress and anxiety following your diagnosis. Supporters can also help advocate for you during treatment.
Sometimes it is not always easy to share news you have cancer even among loved ones. In instances like these, you can seek out a trained professional to center your support group around. Mental health professionals can help fill this space because many are trained to help you navigate your cancer treatment.
“Make sure that the mental health professional that you work with is reaching out with your consent to the rest of your team, to the oncologist, to the surgeon. It can also be helpful to reach out to family, friends, and any other caretakers that may be involved in the person’s treatment,” Dr. Plutchik said.
Questions to Ask Your Doctor
If you’re going through cancer treatment and experiencing hair loss, here are some questions you may consider asking your doctor:
Are there any treatments to help manage or minimize my hair loss?
What are scalp-cooling devices and how do they work?
Do you recommend scalp-cooling devices?
What other options are available to help me cope with hair loss?
Can you recommend a wig maker?
I’m struggling mentally with my hair loss, can you recommend a therapist to talk to?
How can I find a local support group with people going through similar things?
