Coleen Nolan has revealed her sister Linda has been diagnosed with incurable cancer.
The ‘Loose Women’ star opened up about her sister’s health as she returned to the ITV panel show after a short break, which she explained was due to the sad news.
Coleen broke down in tears on Monday’s (27 March) edition, as she told of how Linda discovered she had the disease after breaking her hip after a fall at home.
The ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ winner explained how a scan had showed up a cyst on Linda’s pelvic bone, which was later diagnosed as secondary breast cancer.
Linda, 58, had previously beaten the disease 10 years ago.
“It was earth-shattering for us,” Coleen told co-stars Ruth Langsford, Stacey Solomon and Nadia Sawalha.
“She is incredible. She didn’t want anyone to know. She wanted me to come back, she had enough sitting around, but she’s not ready to talk about it yet.”
Addressing her break from ‘Loose Women’, Coleen went on: “She saw the speculation about why I was off, which wasn’t true – she didn’t want people to start speculating about her.
“I didn’t want to lie to any of you. I wouldn’t be able to hold it together.”
However, while Linda has been told her cancer is not curable, it is treatable.
“Linda wants to get across that she is not dying of cancer - she is living with cancer,” Coleen said.
Admitting there will be comparisons to their sister, Bernie, who died from incurable cancer in 2013, Coleen went on: “That was in Linda’s mind when they first said it. But it was a completely different cancer and Bernie’s had spread. Linda’s hasn’t.
“Like Bernie, Linda’s so strong. She’s had her down days don’t get me wrong, but she’s being really positive. As much as I’m crying now and shaking, we’ve also had moments of hilarity.”
Coleen also revealed Linda’s diagnosis had a terrible affect on her own health, triggering a stress-related allergy, which saw her face balloon up.
“They were frightened of anaphylactic shock,” she explained, as she shared a picture with viewers. “I thought no one wants to see that on the telly.”
Linda appeared on ‘Loose Women’ just last month, when she revealed the results of her recent face lift to Coleen and viewers at home live on air.
“I just thought it’s so unfair, she’s just got it all together,” Coleen said. “It’s taken her ten years to finally get her life back and then it goes whack here you go, now face this.
“We’ll all fight as a family and we’ll all be there for her,” she added.
‘Loose Women’ airs weekdays at 12.30pm on ITV.