Linda Nolan has made the heartbreaking choice to pick out her own coffin and one of the songs to be sung at her funeral after cancerous tumours were found on her brain.
The singer, 64, was told by doctors six weeks ago she had two sizeable masses surrounded by smaller ones on her MRI image, nearly 20 years after she was first diagnosed with cancer.
Linda underwent a mastectomy and 18 rounds of chemotherapy after she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005 and lost her husband Brian in 2007 and younger sister Bernie 2013 to cancer, while her eldest daughter Anne overcame the illness.
Linda saw cancer return in her hip in 2017 and in her liver in 2020, and she is now waiting for the results of another MRI scan after undergoing 11 radiotherapy sessions and taking steroids to see if the tumours on her brain have shrunk.
While she is due to take a new chemotherapy drug called Tucatinib ‘to give me more time’, she admits she is finding it hard at times to hold on to hope and has begun to making plans for her funeral in a bid to make things easier for her family.
Difficult: Linda Nolan, 64, has made the heartbreaking choice to pick out her own coffin and one of the songs to be sung at her funeral (pictured last year)
She told the Mirror: ‘(Husband) Brian organised his funeral and it was amazing.
‘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 if that was what she was going to choose, she confirmed: ‘Absolutely.’
Linda now uses a stick and a frame to help her walk and has moved in with her sister Denise in Blackpool, with her other sister Maureen visiting every day.
She explained how she struggles to move at time, with her right foot being ‘practically paralysed’.
Sad news: The singer was told by doctors six weeks ago she had two masses surrounded by smaller ones on her MRI image, nearly 20 years after she was first diagnosed with cancer (pictured last year)
Emotional: Linda and her family have had heartbreaking battles with cancer, including her late husband Brian who died from the disease in 2007 (Linda and Brian pictured at their wedding in 1981)
Her sister Denise cooks for her and cleans, and makes the bed in a bid to make things as comfortable for her as possible.
However, she is still focusing on what she can do when she is healthy enough, with Linda insisting she is going to book a big house in the Lake District soon so her family can spend time together and ‘make memories’.
Last month, Linda pulled out of work appearances after revealing her cancer has spread to her brain.
During an emotional interview on Monday’s edition of Good Morning Britain, she told ITV viewers that the cancer has spread to her brain, but she’s ‘not giving up’.
Linda was supposed to take part in a meet and greet with fans just days after the interview in Inverness alongside Kerry Katona, Gail Porter and Gayle Telfer Stevens.
However, a message on their Instagram page read: ‘We were all gutted to hear the news about Linda Nolan today.
‘Unfortunately, this does mean that she will not be joining us this weekend but we wish her all the very best wishes and our thoughts are with her and her family. xx.’
Linda is still listed to attend dates for Lunch & Laughs Live in September.
Gutting: It comes after Linda was forced to pull out of work appearances after revealing her cancer has spread to her brain (pictured in 2020)
Heartbreaking: During an emotional interview on Good Morning Britain last month, the singer told ITV viewers that the cancer has spread to her brain, but she’s ‘not giving up’
The event is described as: ‘Fun filled, celebs, secrets, and stories, songs, Q and A’s and lots, and lots of laughter!’
The singer, who recently celebrated her 64th birthday, was diagnosed with stage-three breast cancer in 2005 before getting the all-clear in 2006. But in 2017 she was diagnosed with a form of incurable secondary cancer in her hip, which spread to her liver in 2020.
Last month, she told GMB presenters Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley: ‘I’ve always been hopeful with my treatment and what’s going on in my life.
‘I just want to tell you unfortunately for me my cancer has spread to my brain and that’s obviously frightening because there isn’t much treatment for brain cancer except for chemotherapy.’
She added: ‘I’m not giving up. I’m positive. I’m going to lose my hair again for the fourth time.’
‘I’ve moved back in with my sister to live, I was having falls, the cancer in my brain was affecting my balance and I had three quite nasty falls.
Work: Linda was supposed to take part in a meet and greet with fans in Inverness alongside Kerry Katona, Gail Porter and Gayle Telfer Stevens
‘So, as usual, my amazing family – I’m back living with my sister Denise and her partner. Maureen has been looking after me for the past few weeks.
‘I’ve bought a wheelchair, we’re getting stuff ready for the inevitable really. It’s a scary trip to be on, this one.’
Linda said she was trying to remain positive: ‘I don’t know how long I’ve got left, and that’s not me being morbid or anything, but I don’t know, none of us know really. So for me, it’s making the most of every day and spending it with people I love. Just being positive.
‘Yes, I’ve beaten it before. I’ve been fighting it since 2005 originally and then I’ve beaten it before, so hopefully I can do the same again. Obviously, with the great help I’ve always had from the NHS.’
In the mood for dancing: The Nolans Coleen, Maureen, Bernie and Linda pictured performing in 1981
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