Publisher Health

Strictly Come Dancing’s Amy Dowden has spoken of her “nightmare week” after being taken to hospital with a blood clot on her lung.

Doctors worried the clot might move towards her heart, she said on Instagram.

“Lucky enough, it’s not,” she said in a post to her 600,000 followers.

The 33-year-old from Caerphilly announced she had breast cancer in May and finished chemotherapy three weeks ago.

“I’ve had another nightmare this week,” she says in a video on Instagram revealing her two-day hospital stay. “Just seems to be never ending.

“I’ve got a blood clot on my lung, obviously because it’s so close to my heart that’s a risk,” she says, explaining how she was now on blood thinning injections that made her stomach sore.

In November she revealed that her hopes of returning to the show this year had been dashed by a broken foot.

“I’ve just been really frustrated, lots of plans this week… getting my life back and it just seems to be with my foot as soon as I get it back you know something comes up.

“I think we get into our heads that when we finish chemo that’s it, but you learn it really isn’t,” explaining how “chemo is still in my body for six weeks” after her last treatment.

Blood clots – also known as a thrombosis or embolism – can happen when a collection of blood forms inside a vein or artery.

Cancer Research UK said they are a common side effect of the disease, with up to one in five cancer patients expected to get a clot.

It is because cancer cells can make blood “stickier” and some cancer treatments can also increase the risk of blood clots

Amy said it was not the first time she has had blood clots since getting cancer, but doctors were concerned by the latest because of its location on her lung.

Now she said she was looking ahead to a follow-up scan in a few weeks.

“At least I’m home and the tree is up so it’s cosy,” she said, while going on to express frustration about her lack of hair regrowth.

Amy has said she she felt “empowered and positive” by shaving her head during cancer treatment, posting an emotional video of herself getting clipped and appearing on Strictly without a wig.

But in her latest video she said she “thought her hair would grow back way quicker”.

“That’s frustrating and getting me down but hey, I’m home from hospital. That’s the main thing.”