Amy Dowden has been supported by her Strictly Come Dancing co-stars after her latest heartbreaking Instagram post.
The 31-year-old pro dancer, who suffers from Crohn’s, gave fans an insight into how the health condition has “robbed” her of opportunities.
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Amy Dowden on Instagram
Strictly pro dancer Amy has always been open about her battle with Crohn’s disease.
The lifelong illness causes inflammation of the digestive tract, leading to abdominal pain, fatigue, severe diarrhea, and malnutrition.
Amy, who has been a pro dancer on Strictly since 2017, took to Insta to share her experience with Crohn’s on World IBD Day (May 19).
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The star uploaded a selfie of her during a flare-up with her 315k followers. Amy looks very ill as she lies in a hospital bed in the snap.
“World IBD day. I wanted to show the reality of flares! (this isn’t me today, I’ve had a lovely day filming),” she captioned the picture.
“Today I want to share times I found tough. One of which is being judged for your condition!” she continued.
Amy’s lengthy caption continued, with the Welsh dancer saying that due to her condition, she’s been “robbed” of opportunities in the past.
“I would do anything in the world not to live with it, I often say what did I do to deserve this?” she asked.
“Then I’d be robbed of opportunities and dreams because I’d be seen as a ‘risk’ which would frustrate and upset me, which as many know isn’t good for any sufferers. Why punish us anymore?” she continued.
“Having IBD doesn’t take away your talents, your hard work, your work ethic! Infact it makes us stronger.”
“Let’s take away the stigma and continue to talk and raise more awareness!” she concluded.
Strictly news
Plenty of Amy’s Strictly Come Dancing co-stars took to the comments to show their support for Amy.
“Love you so proud of you,” Strictly and Freeze the Fear star Dianne Buswell wrote.
“Such a strong girl and role model,” Motsi Mabuse commented.
“We love you baby,” ex-Strictly dancer and current Dancing on Ice judge Oti Mabuse said.
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Nancy Xu and Johannes Radebe both commented with love heart emojis too, as did Aljaź Škorjanec.
“Thank you for inspiring us fellow IBD sufferers and showing us that our illness doesn’t have to control us,” one of her followers wrote.
“You are so brave and so so strong Amy. We love you so much,” another said.
“Such an inspiration to so many! You are incredible, don’t ever forget it. Forever proud of you,” a third wrote.
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