Former ‘Loose Women’ panellist Carol McGiffin has revealed her little sister is dying from cancer - over a year after she beat the disease herself.
The star has told of how she is hoping to make it a special Christmas for her sibling, Tracey, following her terminal diagnosis.
The 53-year-old found a lump in her breast three months ago, and was later told the tumour was actually a secondary one, as the cancer had spread throughout her body.
Both sisters appeared together in an interview with Best magazine, with Carol saying: “I don’t think Tracy wants to know how long she has left, although the doctors could probably say. We’re in uncharted water, but she’s trying to be positive. We all are.”
Tracey told of how her diagnosis has actually brought her and Carol, 56, closer together.
“When I found a lump in my left breast this August, I actually thought ‘Here we go. I’m copying her again’. How I wish that were true,” she said.
“I know that, for once in her life, my sister would have given anything for me to have copied her. But, despite the devastating news, and for as long as I have left, we have grown closer.”
Carol added: “Let’s just say that my Christmas wish is for my sister to have the best time ever, and to really make the most of the time she has left, because, above all, I don’t want her to have any regrets.”
After she was diagnosed with breast cancer herself back in 2014, Carol had a mastectomy, six doses of chemotherapy and 15 rounds of radiotherapy, and is now in remission.
The presenter, who quit ‘Loose Women’ in 2013, previously opened up about her own concerns her cancer would return, telling Bella magazine last year: “I worry that it’s coming back and then think: ‘What’s the point?’ Do you know what I mean? It’s complete paranoia. I’m really scared that it’s all just going to go wrong again.”
Read the full interview with Carol and Tracey in the latest issue of Best magazine, on sale now.