Carol McGiffin has revealed her sister, Tracy, has died, four months after being diagnosed with cancer.
The former ‘Loose Women’ panellist, who previously beat breast cancer herself, told readers of her Best magazine column of her heartbreak.
She wrote: “When my little sister, Tracy, was diagnosed four months ago, it didn’t seem real.
“I knew she was going to die, but I kind of hoped that it would be later… like, years away.
“Now, when I find myself saying the words, ‘My sister died last weekend,’ it still doesn’t seem real. Perhaps because it hasn’t properly sunk in yet, or that I’m just not ready to believe it.
“We were always close as kids, but as we grew up things changed, and I’m really glad that in the end – those last four months – I got to spend some good, quality time with her.”
Before her death, Tracy also 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 told Best.
“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.”
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 Carol’s full column in the latest issue of Best magazine, on sale now.