Linda Nolan hopeful new breast cancer drug can 'save sisters' from family curse

08 November 2023 , 18:45

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Linda Nolan hopeful new breast cancer drug can 'save sisters' from family curse

When the news about the breast cancer drug Anastrozole broke this week, my first thought was for my sisters Maureen, Denise and Coleen.

It’s a drug usually used to treat breast cancer. Now, thanks to brilliant research and trials, it’s been shown to prevent the disease developing at all. It will be offered to post-menopausal women who are considered to have at least a moderate risk, often because close family members have been diagnosed. It is predicted cases could be cut by 49% over 11 years.

Whether it’s right for my sisters is a decision for them, but the possibility has helped set my mind at rest; that there could be something there for them if it’s suitable, and if they want it.

They haven’t been the ones suffering cancer like me, Anne and Bernie. But to watch us, to know it might strike them, or their daughters in Anne and Coleen’s case, must be a constant anxiety. It’s certainly felt like a curse on us Nolans.

Linda is currently battling cancer (Andy Stenning/Daily Mirror)

Linda has been brave and open about her journey (Caroline Sikkenk/Pink Ribbon Foundation)

Knowledge is power - and just to know there might be something there for them has lifted a weight. This is the importance of research and donating to it - please God if we keep supporting, no one will die from breast cancer in years to come.

Mum with terminal cancer wants to see son 'write his first word' before she dies

So that’s the upbeat news of the week. That, and Halloween, which I adore. You’d think I’d have had enough of frights, but when they come in masks and bed sheets asking for sweets - one tunnel-visioned little girl walked straight in! - I’m all for it.

I put a pumpkin outside the door and promised Denise I’d answer when the bell went. Trouble is, I never heard it. I admitted last week my memory is worsening. My hearing is, too. More than my hearing at times, it’s like I hear the words people say, but don’t understand them.

‌I decided always to be honest here, and there’s another thing, too. I’ve developed a stutter. I have no idea why, but I can’t pretend not to be scared at what might be causing it.

‌However, I’m a Nolan, and where there’s fear, there’s always a laugh to be found. I’ve decided I’m now morphing into a mix of Ken Dodd (my inexplicably new curly hair) and Norman Collier. Google him, kids. That faulty mic gag? It'’s now… me.

Susan Knox