Amy Dowden fought back tears after discovering a family tragedy.
Along the way, Amy learned about a 13-year-old relative of hers who was murdered, and she seeks to find out the truth about the devastating accident.
She also learned of a family member who suffered from breast cancer, and is left in tears as she reflects on her own cancer battle.
In May 2023, then aged 32, Amy revealed she had been diagnosed with breast cancer after finding a lump in her breast before her honeymoon with newlywed husband Ben Jones.
During her appearance on Who Do You Think You Are? Amy seeks to find out more about her dad’s side of her family after discovering her grandfather was adopted.
She learned that his mother, her great-grandmother, Louisa, died at a young age, leaving behind several young children.
However, the truth behind Louisa’s tragedy leaves Amy in tears after hearing of Louisa’s diagnosis. The Welsh dancer finds out that Louisa died in 1921 at the age of 39, of breast cancer.
“Oh my goodness,” Amy said, speechless for a moment. “That’s made me a little bit emotional.”
While the camera crew offers Amy a moment to pause, she tearfully shared, “She was only in her 30s. I wonder if there’s a link between her and me.”
Amy went on: “What an awful few years they went through, the war and then this cancer diagnosis, never mind then the Lockout with the collieries.
“My mum had breast cancer and witnessing her go through it, that was tough. Just the thought of the family having to go through what we went through, and it would have been worse then.
“But also, knowing the timing as well. Poor Bill, losing his wife to breast cancer and then having six children.
“Also, she had one of the same type of breast cancers as me, and I’d love to find out more, did she get surgery, did she have treatment? Was there a chance of cure?”
She added, “Knowing what she went through is horrible, but I’m lucky, I’m still here; it took her life, so it’s a bit raw.”
Hearing of the treatment that wouldn’t have been available for Louisa, with cancer at the time known as an incurable disease, Amy shared: “I can’t imagine, I know what it’s like to have a cancer diagnosis, but I’m a lucky one, I’ve been able to come out the other side.”
Louisa’s six children were aged between 11 years old and just one year old, including Amy’s grandfather Frank, who was informally adopted after her death.
“You instantly just feel for these children,” Amy said. “To lose their mum, the girls grew up without a mother and probably also had to become a mother really to the younger siblings.”
She continued, “It’s heartbreaking to see a family go through losing a mum. I couldn’t imagine what it was like to be told you’ve got cancer, and knowing then that was a death sentence.
“I’d imagine Louisa and Bill had to make a very difficult decision, most likely together, about my grandfather Frank, and that must have been absolutely heartbreaking.”
