The Nolan family heartbreak from Bernie’s tragic death to their father’s shocking abuse as Coleen reveals sister Linda has been diagnosed with cancer
THE Nolan family has been hit with its fair share of sorrow with the latest tragedy being Linda Nolan's new battle with an incurable cancer.
This follows her successfully defeating the disease back in 2006.
She has previously witnessed the illness take the life of her younger sister, Bernie, and on today's episode of Loose Women, Coleen Nolan revealed her sister's upsetting diagnosis was the reason behind her absence from the ITV show.
Meanwhile Anne Nolan has also suffered from the same illness.
Loose Women favourite Coleen has faced both health drama and struggles in her marital life while their brother Brian has been at the centre of family heartache.
Here we look into the tragedies to befall one of music's iconic families.
Bernie Nolan
Bubbly Bernie Nolan tragically passed away from cancer in 2013, aged 52.
The Nolans' lead vocalist was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2010, which then spread to her lymph nodes, yet after bravely undergoing chemotherapy and a mascetomy she was given the all-clear.
Sadly in 2012 the cancer returned and was incurable.
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Linda Nolan
Linda, 57, is currently battling a secondary form of cancer, as revealed by her sister Coleen on today's Loose Women.
Coleen explained: “This is so hard. My sister Linda had an accident in her home where she fell up the stairs. She fractured and broke her hip and went to hospital.
“While they did the scan of her hip, they found secondary cancer. She had been clear of breast cancer for six years.”
The 58-year-old singer – who recently underwent a facelift – has been told the condition is not curable this time round, but doctors are able to treat her and she could still have “years” to live.
In 2006, Linda was first diagnosed with breast cancer.
Her husband Brian suffered from skin cancer, and tragically passed away a year later.
Coleen Nolan
Celebrity Big Brother star Coleen recently faced a health battle of her own as she was taken to hospital with a puffy face from a stress related allergy.
The Loose Women star opened up about the tough few weeks her family have been going through after it was discovered her elder sister Linda Nolan has secondary cancer.
As a photo of her swollen and red face flashed on screen, she explained: “Because of all that, I got a stress-related allergy, so I got taken to hospital because they were frightened with anaphylactic shock and I thought, ‘Nobody wants to see that on the telly.’
Meanwhile she is continuing to strengthen her troubled marriage to second husband Ray Fensome.
Before entering the CBB house in January, she admitted their nine year marriage was “hanging on by a thread”.
Anne Nolan
Anne successfully battled cancer in 2000.
Yet she then lifted the lid on an equally harrowing experience as she recalled how the Nolan patriarch - Tommy Nolan - would often sexually and physically abuse the sisters and their mum.
In Coleen's 2008 autobiography she lifted the lid on her sister's suffering and wrote: "He was a bully and a drunk. I knew he'd made mum's life hell and sexually abused Anne. His behaviour repulsed me."
The Loose Women panellist laid the relationship with her dad Tommy Nolan bare in her during an episode of In Therapy.
She said: “He was a horrible drunk, he’d just become very aggressive and scary… I couldn’t bear it.”
Brian Nolan
The lesser-known of the Nolan siblings has also battled his own personal tragedy.
He was all loved up with childhood sweetheart and then wife Linzie yet their happiness only lasted two years, after she was diagnosed with a virus.
She tragically passed away after her lungs collapsed.
The secret sibling
Coleen Nolan has previously revealed the showbiz family has a secret half-sister she never met.
Yet more recently, she has revealed her fears her sibling could have perished at the Irish Children's Home where they discovered the bodies of 800 youngsters.
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