Inside Coleen Nolan's tragic family history with cancer as she shares diagnosis
Coleen Nolan has bravely opened up about her own skin cancer diagnosis, by revealing she has been diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma on her shoulder and melanoma on her face.
The Nolans have suffered many family heartbreaks over the years, with many receiving a cancer diagnosis. Sisters Anne, Lina, Coleen, Denise, Bernie and their mother Maureen rose to fame after forming the girl group The Nolans in 1974.
Cancer has become a presence in their family with Bernie, Anne, Linda and now Coleen being given a diagnosis. Recalling the "shocking" moment she was told she had skin cancer, Loose Women star Coleen said: "My first instinct, typical me, was to laugh hysterically because I just thought that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard anybody say.
"I'm sick of cancer and I also my first instinct was, I'm not telling anybody in my family because this, that I've got at the moment, seems nothing compared to what my sisters have been through."
We take a look at the Nolan sisters who have been given a cancer diagnosis over the years and the effect it has had on their family.
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Linda
Linda has been open about her diagnosis (Andy Stenning/Daily Mirror)Linda, 64, was first diagnosed with cancer nearly 20 years ago. The sixth of eight Nolan siblings, she was first diagnosed with breast cancer back in 2005.
It returned as incurable secondary breast cancer in her hip in 2017 and spread to her liver in 2020, before doctors found two sizable tumours surrounded by smaller ones in her brain, this Spring.
The singer is currently experiencing hair loss for the fourth time in her life, following her cancer spreading. Linda has been open about her diagnosis and she has now begun chemotherapy, which she undertakes every three weeks.
The hope is, if she responds well, this will slow the tumours’ progression.
Anne
Anne (right) was first diagnosed in 2000 (Hull Daily Mail)Anne was the first sister to be diagnosed with the horrific disease having been diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000. The 72-year-old went on to battle stage three breast cancer in April 2020, while her sister Linda found out about her liver cancer a few days later.
Anne and Linda were side-by-side as they underwent chemotherapy and were determined to beat the disease. "I don't want to die. I love my life so much. I love my daughters, my grandchildren, my friends, all my family. I want to live for as long as I possibly can," Anne told The Sun at the time.
She discovered she had cancer for a second time when she found a lump while showering. “The first time 20 years ago, almost 20 years to the day. I was in the shower both times and I was washing. I had felt a lump that wasn’t there before..." she said.
"I left it for a day, to be honest, and then the next day when I was showering again, I thought oh it’s still there and exactly the same thing happened 20 years ago and I just went straight to the doctor." The star is thankfully in remission for the second time as she received the all-clear.
Bernie
Anne and Linda remembered sister with Bernie's Babes (Sunday Mirror)
Bernie Nolan died in 2013 (Getty Images Europe)Second youngest Nolan sister, Bernie first announced she had been diagnosed with breast cancer in April 2010. In October of the same year, Bernie said she was cancer-free following having a mastectomy, going through chemotherapy and taking Herceptin.
She announced in February 2012 that she was no longer taking cancer treatment drugs. However, by the end of October 2012, Bernie's cancer had returned. Doctors told the singer that the disease returned to her left breast, brain, lungs, liver and bones.
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The late star passed at her home in Surrey in July of the following year. She was 52 years old at the time of her death. "Bernie passed away peacefully this morning with all of her family around her," a statement read at the time.
"The entire family are devastated to have lost beloved Bernie, a wonderful wife, adoring mother and loving sister, she is irreplaceable. They kindly ask people to respect their privacy at this difficult time."
Tommy Nolan
The Nolan sister's dad Tommy died of liver cancer in 1998. Anne revealed she was sexually abused by her father in her autobiography Anne's Song following his death.
The star said it began at 11 and lasted for years, sometimes daily. She wrote: "I felt horror, shame and anger." Anne told her sisters about the abuse only after Tommy died at 72 as she wrote: "They sat open mouthed ... incomprehension gradually gave way to anger."
Coleen has since admitted she struggles with Father's Day. When asked this year by Loose Women's Ruth Langsford how she felt about Tommy, Coleen said: "It's hard for me to celebrate Father's Day because I feel guilty if I don't and guilty if I do because obviously things happened with my sister.
"For her, he was abusive, but I never experienced or saw that side of him. So, I have a lot of nice memories, she [Anne] has a lot of bad ones, so it's hard for me. I don't want to post anything...I don't want to be disloyal to her but then there's a part of me that doesn't want to be disloyal to him."
Linda's husband
Linda's husband Brian died in 2007 (Mirrorpix)Linda's husband Brian Hudson died of cancer in 2007, just a year after her own breast cancer diagnosis. They had been married 26 years when he died from skin cancer aged just 60.
“I miss Brian every second of the day. I know some people find it difficult to understand, that the grief is still that raw, but it will always be raw because somebody you love isn’t with you. A little piece of me died with him," she told The Mirror in 2016.
In another interview in 2021, Linda admitted to missing Brian's support through her latest diagnosis. "Yeah. I always think if he was here, he’d sort it. When I had cancer in 2006, I’d wake up in the night feeling rubbish and he’d rub my back, giving me what I needed.
"I miss him every day. I had depression when I lost him and I still suffer now, but it’s under control. I don’t want to go back down that slippery slope again," she told The Mirror.
When asked if cancer is the hardest thing she has been through, Linda replied: "I would say losing Brian was harder."
If you have been affected by this story, advice and support can be found at Breast Cancer Support, or you can contact Macmillan Cancer Support.
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