Dancing Through Lifes Challenges

Amy’s Inspiring Pivot: A Ballroom Bond Thats Come Full Circle

All 4 finalists for the 20^th Strictly Come Dancing competition would have been very worthy winners – but at the end of the day Chris McCausland and his professional dance partner Dianne Buswell were triumphant and lifted the ‘Glitter Ball Trophy’. He has been praised throughout the series for defying expectations of what a blind person can achieve on the dancefloor since being registered blind after losing his sight to retinitis pigmentosa in his 20s. There can be no doubt this win has done a huge amount to raise awareness of what people with disabilities can achieve in the same way that EastEnders star Rose Ayling-Ellis did when she became the first deaf contestant to win the competition 2021.

But we must not forget that not all disabilities are obvious or visible. Amy Dowden, a Strictly Come Dancing professional suffers from Crohn’s disease and has also recently battled cancer. Crohn’s and Colitis are Inflammatory Bowel conditions (IBD) and I now find myself fighting both Colitis and Cancer. So a big shout out to Crohn’s & Colitis UK and Cancer Research UK. Please consider donations to both these great organisations as a way of helping me and others like me with these ‘hidden disabilities’.

The Dancing Tee Family

Inspired by Strictly Come Dancing Tina and I were looking for a hobby we could do together and decided to take up Latin and Ballroom Dancing at a ‘social level’ back in 2009. We started group and private lessons with an amazing dance teacher called Amy Smith. We learnt how to Jive, Rock & Roll, Samba, Salsa, Cha Cha, Quick Step, Waltz an even Argentinian Tango (thank you Flavia). We continued dancing for some 11-12 years, even winning our schools ‘Best Latin’ in 2016, but even after all that time, Erin Boug still had to remind me “the other left foot Dick” when it came to ballroom.

Frankie got involved at the Ballroom helping with the social events and dinners, eventually calling Amy a dear friend off the dance floor. In the past year she has renewed her love of dance and started lessons with a top Latin and Ballroom professional teacher and has been competing in dance competitions across the UK. I am so proud of her, and she has achieved great success and ‘been placed’ at many of the qualifying student/teacher competitions for the Grand Finals in Blackpool.

From Ballroom to Breakthroughs: Amy’s New Mission

Life changed drastically for our dance teacher, Amy, in 2016 when her father was diagnosed with bowel cancer. Amy saw first hand the struggles her father faced to build and maintain his weight during treatment, having little appetite for the thick, sickly meal supplements and shakes.

Amy made it her mission, alongside her partner Rob, to create a game changing palatable product. Amy sold her Ballroom Dancing business to dedicate herself to her new venture Icesupp, helping others through nutrition.

After years of development and perfecting the product, Icesupp is now available and receiving glowing reviews from caregivers, nutritionists and patients. Their mission “to improve the quality of life of those in need with delicious, refreshing and soothing iced supplements.”

It feels like life has come full circle—meeting Amy all those years ago and learning to dance, to cheerleading her new venture, to now relying on these products myself. Amy’s work is truly inspiring, and I’m grateful for the support her products have given me during my own treatment.

So many of you have sent me messages offering to help me in any way they can and these have been so gratefully received. One way that you can help would be to visit the Icesupp website and to read and learn more about the wonderful work and achievements that Amy has made over recent years.

Then if you think their fantastic product can help someone you know – a family member, friend or colleague – who is suffering from an illness or could benefit from these amazing nutritional supplements, which I am currently taking and enjoying, please pass on the details. There is a ‘starter pack’ available so you can ‘try it’…

Until next time

Dick x