Linda Nolan has opened up about the heartbreaking decision to plan her own funeral following her brain cancer diagnosis.
The singer shared the devastating news that her cancer had spread to her brain during an appearance on Good Moring Britain last month, as she says she and her family are preparing ‘for the inevitable.’ Linda, 64, was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005 before being diagnosed with incurable secondary breast cancer which then spread to her hip in 2017.
Since her first diagnosis, Linda has lost her husband Brian and younger sister Bernie to the disease as well as watching her elder sister Anne successfully battle it.
Linda told The Mirror that she has just finished a series of 11 radiotherapy sessions and is currently taking steroids while she waits for the results of a second MRI scan to see if her brain tumours have shrunk. She will then go on the new chemotherapy drug Tucatinib to hopefully give her more time.
The Irish singer, who sported pink glitter polish and bright pink eyeshadow for her interview, admitted: "I think it’s a one-way trip now."
While Linda remains hopeful about the future and her health, she doesn't want to know how much time she has left. “I am positive, but I have my moments when I slide down the wall in a heap,” she said.
“What happens? Is it dark, are you on your own? I’m frightened of the unknown and being on my own, I have always been with people.”
She added: “I’m frightened to cry in case I don’t stop sometimes.”
Linda admits she is beginning to plan her own funeral as it's 'easier' for the family, as she praised her late husband Brian, who tragically passed away in 2007, for also organising his own before his death.
“Brian organised his funeral and it was amazing,” she says. “Bernie arranged hers. It’s easier for people left behind. I’ve gone into it a little bit. A Neil Sedaka song, Our Last Song Together. And I know the funeral people I’m going to use.
“Brian’s coffin was like a flight case, with ‘This way up’, ‘Fragile’ on it. Our auntie had a beautiful coffin with pictures of us around it. Then Maureen said ‘Look at this coffin, it was made for you, it’s pink glitter’.”
When asked about whether she will consider the pink coffin, Linda quipped: "Absolutely. I am the blingy Nolan."
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