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Linda Nolan feels 'lucky' to share cancer treatment with sister Anne

Linda Nolan has said she feels lucky to be able to go through cancer treatment with her sister Anne and she spoke of her positive attitude to “living with cancer”.

The 61-year-old Nolan Sisters singer admitted she and her 69-year-old sister are “scared to death” but are focusing on surviving cancer.

Linda told Good Morning Britain: “Don’t get me wrong, we’ve both had our moments, we’re both scared to death, we want to live. It is a very scary diagnosis.

“I’ve known that my cancer isn’t curable since 2017 but I’m getting great treatment and I’m going to be living with cancer and I propose to do that for an awful long time.

“If you sit down and crawl under the duvet, get up have your treatment and crawl back under the duvet, it’s going to make it twice as bad.”

Read more: Coleen Nolan supports sisters Linda and Anne after double cancer diagnosis

Linda Nolan spoke to 'GMB' about sharing cancer treatment with her sister Anne. (ITV)
Linda Nolan spoke to 'GMB' about sharing cancer treatment with her sister Anne. (ITV)

Anne had been due to join her sister on the ITV breakfast show over videolink but was feeling too unwell.

Linda said: “I feel OK. My chemo isn’t as toxic as Anne’s… Anne’s is a primary cancer – she’s having everything thrown at her to make her well again. She’s sorry she couldn’t be here, but sends her love.”

Anne was diagnosed with breast cancer on 7 May. Linda, who was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006, revealed just half an hour after hearing about Anne’s diagnosis she received a call to say her own cancer had returned.

Linda, who lost her older sister Bernie to breast cancer at the age of 52 in 2010, confessed: “I didn’t tell anyone for about three days. I couldn’t turn around and say, ‘I’ve got it as well’. It’s my third time. But we’re both having great treatment from our local hospital, Victoria [in Blackpool].”

She joked: “We’re now the Chemo Sisters. Someone said we could do a Right Said Fred impression.”

And she revealed now lockdown restrictions have been eased they are able to attend chemotherapy sessions together.

Linda said: “We have a good old chinwag. We compare side effects, pins and needles in our fingers and toes – we swap all those, that information.”

She added: “We are lucky I suppose in the fact that we can have it [treatment] together.”

But she also admitted that being diagnosed during the coronavirus lockdown and being unable to physically support each other right away had been a “double nightmare”.

The Nolans, who had their record 'Dressed to Kill' thrown out of the top 100 pop chart. Left to right; Linda Nolan, Anne Nolan, Bernie Nolan, Coleen Nolan, and Maureen Nolan
The Nolan Sisters, from left to right, Linda, Bernie, Coleen and Maureen. (PA)

The Loose Women star - who took part in Celebrity Big Brother in 2014 - said: “During the lockdown it’s been a double nightmare… All we initially were able to do was phone her [Anne] to say we were here, or wave at her through the window. So that has made it more difficult.”

Read more: Nolan sisters diagnosed with cancer - are relatives of cancer patients more at risk?

Linda also revealed that she and her sisters had been tested for BRCA gene mutation that increases your risk of cancer and none of them have it.

She said: “We have been told there will be a rogue gene in there somewhere that they haven’t discovered yet. It’s scary for our other sisters and of course the girls that are married that have daughters, well sons as well. It is very scary in that respect.”

The Nolan Sisters, including Coleen, Maureen and Denise, found fame as part of a girl group in 1974 with hits including I’m In The Mood For Dancing.