Loose Women star Coleen Nolan has revealed she is thinking about having a mastectomy after her two sisters, Linda and Anne, both received cancer diagnoses recently.
Last weekend, her brave older sisters Linda, 61, and Anne, 69, revealed they are both fighting cancer and are undergoing chemotherapy treatment.
The devastating news is another blow for the Nolan family, who lost their sister Bernie to breast cancer aged 52 back in 2013.
Anne and Linda received their diagnoses within days of each other during the lockdown.
Linda has secondary cancer that first metastasised to her hip and pelvis in 2017 then moved to her liver, after she also battled breast cancer in 2006.
Coleen Nolan has revealed she’s thinking about having a mastectomy (Image: PA Archive/PA Images)
Anne was told she has got stage three breast cancer after beating the disease in 2000.
Coleen told the Mirror: “I was still in bits after hearing that Anne had cancer when Linda called a few days later to tell me about her diagnosis and I was so shocked I couldn’t even cry.
“I just felt incredible anger – ‘Cancer can f**** off’ is what I thought.
“It was heartbreaking and felt so unfair, and I wanted to jump in my car immediately and drive to Blackpool to give them both a hug, but I couldn’t because we were in full lockdown and they were shielding. I felt totally helpless.”
Anne and Linda received their diagnoses within days of each other during lockdown (Image: PA Photo/Quest Red/Discovery Communications, LLC.)
Coleen, who still hasn’t been able to see Linda or Anne because of the restrictions, says she has taken strength from their positivity and they are in touch daily via WhatsApp.
The former Celebrity Big Brother star said: “I’m completely in awe of their courage.
“It’s been hard for both of them not being able to see family, and it’s especially hard for Anne who misses her daughters Amy and Alex, and her grandkids.
Coleen hasn’t seen Linda or Anne since their diagnoses (Image: FilmMagic)
“A few days after chemo they feel very sick and my other sisters Maureen and Denise, who are looking after them, keep the family updated when they’re too ill to get in touch.
“But as soon as they feel better, they’re back on WhatsApp and out of bed living their lives. Their determination reminds me of Bernie, who didn’t give in until she took her last breath and I’ve questioned many times over the past weeks whether I’d be that brave.”
Coleen admitted her sisters’ latest cancer battle has made her think about similar life-threatening risks to her own health.
She explained: “The guilt is incredible.”
The Loose Women star says she lies awake at night debating whether or not to have a mastectomy (Image: ITV)
“I don’t feel guilty for not having the disease; I feel guilty for being afraid of it when I think of Anne and Linda living with it.
“But of course it’s hard not to be consumed by fear when those so close to you have been affected.”
The ITV star has revealed she would have an elective doubt mastectomy to reduce her risks of developing breast cancer in the future.
Coleen said: “Seeing what Anne and Linda are going through has made me think a lot about having a mastectomy.
Coleen said she’s “consumed with fear” as two of her sisters fight cancer (Image: ITV)
“I’ve been lying in bed at night, looking down at my breasts and thinking, ‘Am I just walking around with two timebombs here?’ If that’s a possibility, maybe I need to get rid of them.”
After a breast cancer scare in 2009 when she was competing in Dancing On Ice, Coleen now sees a specialist every year to check her breasts for abnormalities.
“I found a big lump when I was in the bath one night,” she recalled.
“My ex-husband Ray booked an appointment the next day and it was really scary.
Linda appeared on Good Morning Britain last week to discuss her diagnosis (Image: ITV)
“When a specialist eventually told me it was an infected gland, the relief was immense.”
Coleen, who is mum to Shane Jnr, 31, and Jake, 27, from her marriage to actor Shane Richie, and Ciara, 19, from her marriage to second husband, musician Ray Fensome, says her children are also worried.
She checks her breasts in the shower daily and looks at them in the mirror to check for changes.
She encourages her daughter Ciara to do the same, explaining: “We’re all worried about our kids – Anne’s girls Amy and Alex have a mum and two aunties who’ve developed the disease, so we are always saying, ‘Please check yourself’.”
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
