Chemo has taken my hair, eyebrows and now my nails – but I’m living for the moment, says Linda Nolan
ONCE known as the Naughty Nolan, it’s no surprise Linda Nolan is battling incurable cancer with as much humour as she can muster.
The singer, 63, was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer in 2005 and given the all-clear the next year. But in March 2017, she was diagnosed with secondary breast cancer which was identified after it spread to her hip, following a fall.
Doctors confirmed they could see no cure - and in May 2020 that it had also spread to her liver.
Linda has since lost her hair, eyelashes and eyebrows from chemotherapy, while her toenails have “turned to chalk”.
But one thing she has not lost is her quick wit, as she continues to playfully tease her famous loved ones.
She says: “I don’t mean to be morbid but sometimes I do wind my sisters up. If they say they can’t be here for my birthday I’ll say, ‘Well, that’s all right, but if it’s my last, don’t feel guilty’.
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“In a way, it’s given me a sense of freedom. I now know what is important.
“I don’t know how long I am going to be here so I am going to make the most of the time I have left. Hopefully it will be many years to come but it may not be.”
Linda found Seventies pop fame in Anglo-Irish girl group The Nolans, with her sisters Anne, now 71, Denise, 69, Maureen, 67, Coleen, 57, and their late sister Bernie, who died of breast cancer in 2013 aged 52. Anne was also diagnosed with breast cancer but is now in remission.
Linda, who also has brothers Tommy and Brian, says: “My sisters and brothers are on tenterhooks when I go and get my results. We have a WhatsApp group called ‘Linda’s treatment’ and I keep them all updated on that. But when I talk to them I do mess about.
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“When they said I had weddings to go to this year, I replied ‘and hopefully not a funeral’.”
Linda’s humour is one of the ways she copes with the seriousness of her situation, after doctors told her that she must undergo chemo for life because her cancer is treatable but not curable.
She had gone back on chemo in September, with some success. But then later, less positive scans meant she was told in January she would need ongoing treatment.
Linda says: “I started the chemo again in September but the doctor said it hadn’t done what they hoped it would do. The tumours on my liver were enlarged and were growing, so they had to put me back on chemo again.
“It was a shock. But I’ll do anything to stay alive. We agreed on a 12-week course, once a week every Friday.”
As the news sank in, Linda broke down in the arms of Maureen.
She said: “For the next two days I was a complete mess. I was crying. I needed those days to get it out of my system.
“I was thinking, ‘Will I see my great-nieces and nephews? Will I see them grow up and get married?’ But then I thought, ‘I don’t want to let cancer win’.
“When you get to that place where you are feeling sorry for yourself and low, something inside me goes, ‘Yes, but you will be there so don’t be ridiculous’.
In a way, it’s given me a sense of freedom. I now know what is important. I don’t know how long I am going to be here so I am going to make the most of the time I have left. Hopefully it will be many years to come but it may not be.
Linda Nolan
“I do my best to be positive but I am hanging on by my fingernails, which are damaged anyway from the chemo. Don’t get me wrong, I have days where I have to drag myself out of bed because I wake up and there is a big, grey cloud of doom over me. But I try to be positive.”
Linda’s chemo is taking its toll but her sister, Loose Women star Coleen, has had words of wisdom for her.
Linda says: “My treat to myself was always to have acrylic nails but this time they are all broken halfway down — they are like chalk. Chemo has taken my hair, my eyebrows and now my nails.
“But Coleen put it well. When I told her, she replied, ‘Well, I don’t care what it takes as long as it doesn’t take you’. But it’s little things like that which wear you down.”
Linda also has two wigs that she wears. She is aware of the toll her illness has taken on those closest to her.
She says: “I still have a counsellor, as there are things I don’t want to say to my family as I know they are devastated as well.
“When I am feeling really low it is hard for them to know what to do.
“They are brilliant for asking but with the counsellor I can say, ‘I am scared to death’.
“It’s not an act but eventually it is hard to be positive. I can just talk and cry with her.
I do my best to be positive but I am hanging on by my fingernails, which are damaged anyway from the chemo. Don’t get me wrong, I have days where I have to drag myself out of bed because I wake up and there is a big, grey cloud of doom over me. But I try to be positive.
Linda Nolan
“I don’t want to make it any worse for my family than it already is.” Linda has no desire to create a bucket list of things she wants to do before she dies, as it is “too final”.
She has also decided not to find out how long doctors think she has left — instead choosing to live in the present.
She says: “I asked my consultant one day what my prognosis was and then quickly said, ‘Don’t tell me’, as I don’t want to know. I just want to make memories.
“I was due to have more chemo on Christmas Eve but my doctor said it was OK and I could take some time off.
“It did really help me. I had a brilliant Christmas and I was able to enjoy it with the family, and we had New Year at Coleen’s house.
“Things like that seem so much more important now.
“I don’t know if it is going to be my last Christmas this year, or my last New Year, but I accept it could well be.”
Linda is adamant, though, that she will not miss any big family occasions this year.
She said: “Three of my nephews are getting married and Denise has her 70th coming up.
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“My godson Danny, who is Maureen’s son, is getting married in Italy and that is my goal — to make sure I am there in August.
“I am going to be there for all of those things. They are milestones. I am determined.”
