Coleen Nolan has revealed that she has been diagnosed with skin cancer, making her the fourth sister in the family pop group The Nolans to have the disease.
The Loose Women star, 58, spoke about her diagnosis on the talk show on Monday (17 July) and said she was “sick of cancer” in her family.
Three of Nolan’s sisters have been diagnosed with the illness over the years. In 2013, Bernie died of breast cancer at the age of 52, while Linda announced this year that her cancer has spread to her brain.
A third sister, Anne, has undergone successful treatment for cancer twice and is currently in remission. However, she has previously spoken out about her fears that it will return.
Coleen told ITV viewers that the skin cancer was only caught by chance after she went to a dermatologist for a different problem. The doctor said that the patch was a common skin cancer, basal cell carcinoma, she recalled.
“I went back in and he was very good and he said, ‘Look, it’s nothing to worry about. It is actually a cancer that doesn’t necessarily spread, but you do need to treat it’,” she recalled.
She is now undergoing treatment using chemo cream, with the option of surgery if it does not work.
Coleen said her “first instinct” after receiving the diagnosis was to “laugh hysterically”.
“I just thought that’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard anybody say,” she continued. “I’m sick of cancer and also, my first instinct was, I’m not telling anybody in my family because this that I’ve got at the moment seems nothing compared to what my sisters have been through.”
She also reflected on Linda’s current condition. In March, Linda shared the news that she was about to start chemotherapy again, and moved into her sister Denise’s home the following month to prepare for “the inevitable”.
Linda Nolan shares a health update about her cancer, which has spread to her brain— (Good Morning Britain)
“What Linda is going through, where it has gone to her brain and she’s having chemo,” Coleen said. “It just seemed so pathetic for some reason to go back and go, ‘Oh yeah, I’ve got a carcinoma’.”
After the show, Linda posted on Twitter that she was “very proud” of her younger sister.
“She acted on her instincts, found something amiss and got it checked,” the 64-year-old singer wrote. “If you spot something out of the ordinary for you, PLEASE get it checked. Don’t be frightened.”
Coleen has previously said she considered undergoing a double mastectomy after Linda and Anne’s diagnoses of breast cancer. She has also had a breast cancer scare in 2009, while competing on Dancing On Ice – however, the lump in her breast at the time turned out to be an infected gland.
She told The Mirror: “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.”
The TV personality said she believes the cancer affecting her sisters “could be down to a rogue gene from my dad’s side of the family”.
Some forms of cancer can run in families, with the risk of developing breast cancer, bowel cancer or ovarian cancer increasing if close relatives have previously developed the conditions.
However, it does not mean that a person will definitely have cancer if their close relatives have it. According to the NHS, it is estimated that between three and 10 in every 100 cancers are associated with an inherited faulty gene.
The Nolans comprised Coleen, Linda, Denise, Bernie and Maureen Nolan. They are one of the world’s biggest selling girl groups and their international hits include “I’m in the Mood for Dancing”, “Gotta Pull Myself Together”, and “Chemistry”.
