Linda Nolan, who struck fame in the 70s with the girl group The Nolans, admits that she “ wasn’t sure she would make Christmas” this year due to her cancer diagnosis.
The 65 year old singer and actress who is living with brain and bone cancer revealed in an article for Woman Magazine that she “can’t wait for Christmas. Not to be morbid, but I didn’t think I’d make Christmas, so it’s a real bonus.”
She also spoke about how she is having “chemo once every three weeks” and said, “I have my bloods taken after each time and if they’re OK, I have the next round.”
Speaking about the effects of the illness she said, “I’ve lost my hair again – I’m bald for the fifth time and it still gets to me each time”. She went on to add “I’m distraught when it goes. Pain wise I get a cramp in my leg which really hurts, but apart from that there’s no pain, which is good.”
Nolan emphasises how she doesn’t let her illness get in the way of her positivity, she said: “ I’ve been fighting this since 2005 and I always put up a fight, you can’t not.”
In her own column for the Mirror Nolan spoke about how she had moved in with her sister Denise after a bad fall, she said, “It forced me to finally accept I couldn’t return home. Home for me is officially five doors up from Denise and Tom’s”.
She mentioned that she has now been living there for 18 months before humorously adding “god help them”.
The Nolan family consisting of Linda, Denise, Maureen, Bernie, Anne, Coleen and brothers Brian and Tommy have dealt with their fair share of tragedy over the years.
Bernie passed away in 2013 at the age of 52 as a result of her breast cancer diagnosis. Linda was also diagnosed and underwent treatment for breast cancer in 2005 before her husband Brian sadly passed away in 2007 following his battle with skin cancer.
Linda underwent chemotherapy again during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 along with her sister Anne, who was being treated for breast cancer.
Linda told the Mirror, “It’s hard sometimes, but you’ve gotta have the stamina to go, ‘Yeah, I’m not going to lie in bed feeling sorry for myself”.
She added, “Keeping busy is important as is getting outside. Even if it is sitting outside in your garden in this cold weather getting some fresh air always makes you feel better.”