After almost two years of trauma, Strictly dancer Amy Dowden is hanging on to the hope that she will one day become a mother.

Having been diagnosed with stage-three breast cancer in May 2023, followed by gruelling chemotherapy, she revealed yesterday that she has frozen five embryos to fulfil her dream of having a family.

Ms Dowden, 34, who also had a mastectomy, announced last February that she had 'no evidence of disease'.

Before her chemotherapy, she had an egg retrieval procedure to give her and her husband, fellow dancer Benjamin Jones, a chance for children.

Speaking on the What If? podcast with Lorraine Kelly and her daughter Rosie, the professional dancer said: 'Obviously we would love a family, and we've got embryos because I've got a hormone-fed cancer, so I was put into early menopause.

'So in a couple of years, when they feel it's safe, hopefully we'll have the opportunity. And, if not, there's still lots of other opportunities, which we have spoken about. So hopefully in years to come we'll be lucky enough to become parents.'

Ms Dowden, who also has the bowel condition Crohn's disease, had to drop out of Strictly in spring 2023 after discovering a lump in her breast the day before her honeymoon.

But her return to the BBC show last year also came to an abrupt end.

Paired with singer JB Gill, she was forced to leave early with a fractured shin. She said: 'Honestly, you couldn't write my bad luck.' 

However, she and Gill will dance together again this month on the Strictly live tour.