Support truly
independent journalism
Our mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.
Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.
Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.
Louise Thomas
Editor
Linda Nolan has said she is preparing to lose her hair for a fifth time as she begins another round of chemotherapy to treat her cancer.
The Nolans singer, 65, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005 and went into remission the following year. In 2017, she revealed she had been diagnosed with a secondary cancer in her hip, which spread to her liver in 2020. Three years later, the cancer had spread to her brain.
In her latest health update issued earlier this week, Nolan said that two of her largest tumours had grown in size and that her treatment had “stopped working”. She revealed that she would be placed on a new life-extending breast cancer drug called Enhertu, as well as undergoing another round of chemotherapy.
Appearing on Thursday’s instalment of Good Morning Britain (29 August) from her home in Blackpool, Nolan said she is preparing to lose her hair for the fifth time.
“The big tumours in my brain have gotten bigger. But the immunotherapy was working for them originally, so they’re not as big as they were originally, but they are bigger.
“So they’ve put me on another chemo where I might lose my hair, for a fifth time,” she said, fighting back tears.
The Nolan family have dealt with cancer before, with Nolan, Colleen and Anne all receiving diagnoses at different times. Anne successfully recovered from cancer, but Nolan lost both her husband Brian Hudson and younger sister Bernie to the illness.
Asked by host Richard Madeley if she gets angry at how cancer has affected her family, Nolan replied: “I asked Bernie one time, somebody said to her ‘Do you ever think Why me?’ and she said, ‘No I think why not me’. It doesn’t pick and choose.
“You can’t put your name down and say you’re next in line. But we have had a rough time with it.”
“It’s like ‘Go away, leave us alone,’” she said of cancer. “But the treatments out there are brilliant now and hopefully that will work, and if it doesn’t work [my oncologist] put me on another.”
Speaking to The Mirror in an article published on Wednesday (28 August), Nolan said her most recent set of test results left her “sobbing”.
“I sobbed when my consultant first told me. I know so many people are suffering and going through things, but I thought, just for once, could cancer just leave me alone? My heart sank.”
She continued: “I had feared something was wrong. My balance has been getting worse and my memory – my sisters have to prompt me when I get lost in the middle of a sentence.’”
Nolan said of her forthcoming treatment: “To be able to try a new drug is amazing, I just wish everyone could have this opportunity.
“To be able to try this is hope – it’s a plan B not everyone is being allowed. To take this drug away from women is to take away their hope.”
Although she admitted she is dreading the side effects of chemotherapy, she said she’s “ready to try anything” to get back to full health.
“I have done this before and I can do it again,” she said.
