Linda and Anne Nolan says they constantly live in fear of cancer

Linda and Anne Nolan have admitted that they constantly live in fear of cancer as they discussed their battle with the disease.

Linda, 62, has incurable secondary cancer which has spread from her hip to her liver, while Anne, 70, completed treatment for breast cancer in November. 

In a fan Q&A session that they held with The Mirror on Friday, the two sisters admitted that they fear any illness they have will always be cancer. 

In the candid chat, Anne said: ‘You do live with it for a few years – if you feel ill or anything at all you think, oh gosh, it’s the cancer coming back.

‘Eventually that feeling fades away and you don’t think that all the time. Eventually it does leave your head.’

Linda admitted that when she had a double mastectomy in 2006 she was worried that a ‘lump’ she felt was cancer, but explained to fans that her nurse reassured her it was just scar tissue.

Agreeing with what Anne had said earlier, Linda went on: ‘What I mean is that it’s inside your head all the time.’ 

Honest: In the candid chat with Jess Boulton, Anne said: ‘Eventually that feeling fades away and you don’t think that all the time. Eventually it does leave your head’ (pictured on Friday)

Fear: Linda admitted that when she had a double mastectomy in 2006 she was worried that a ‘lump’ she felt was her cancer, but said her nurse reassured her it was just scar tissue 

On Wednesday, Anne credited her sister Linda for getting her through chemotherapy. 

Anne and Linda underwent chemotherapy during the Covid pandemic, where restrictions prevented them from being accompanied by other members of the family for support.

In an extract from their new book Stronger Together, shared by The Mirror, Anne credits Linda for helping her through the therapy, which left her with traumatic side-effects.

Stronger together: On Wednesday, Anne credited her sister Linda for getting her through chemotherapy, saying they ‘are stronger together because of it’ [pictured: their new book]

‘When [other sister] Maureen called to say Linda and I could have our chemotherapy treatment together, I cried with relief. We’ve shared every emotion – the highs and the lows – and we are stronger together because of it,’ Anne writes.

‘Two decades earlier when I had my chemo the first time, I could go out and do things. But because of the lockdowns and restrictions, I was having to shield. It’s been like living in a nightmare really. It was horrendous.

‘Having [Linda] with me helped a lot. She brought magazines in and we’d look at them together and natter. She was two metres from me, but we could still hear each other speak, and it was nice having a loved one nearby. 

‘Linda was the one who labelled us the Chemo Sisters and I love that moniker.’ 

Siblings: Both sisters – part of the former pop group The Nolans – are battling breast cancer, after previously beating the disease years before [pictured L-R: Anne, Linda, Maureen, Coleen]

Anne goes on: ‘She just made life much easier. Linda had similar side-effects, and we would talk our symptoms through, as well as our coping mechanisms, and it made me feel better knowing I wasn’t alone.’

Chemo patients ring a bell in hospital on cancer wards to mark the end of their treatment. The sisters began chemotherapy at Blackpool’s Victoria Hospital last July.

Of this, Anne said: ‘When it came time to ring the bell, I was thrilled. It was fantastic feeling that I had finished chemo but I really rang the bell hard for Linda and was doing it for her rather than for me.’  

They received news of their shock diagnoses within days of each other, shortly after the sisters returned from filming a series of The Nolans Go Cruising in March.  

Family: Anne was initially diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000, with Linda getting it in 2006 [back L-R Maureen, Anne and the late Bernie, front L-R Linda and Denise in 1981]

Struggles: During a recent interview on Piers Morgan’s Life Stories, Linda’s sister Coleen teared up as Piers showed her a clip where Linda admits she is scared of dying

After the sisters received their heartbreaking diagnoses, Maureen moved in with Anne and Linda relocated to her sister Denise’s Blackpool home.

Anne’s diagnosis came 20 years after she was first diagnosed with the disease in 2000.

Back in December, the singer said her cancer has ‘disappeared’ after undergoing a course of chemotherapy. 

She said: ‘My cancer has disappeared basically. I’m still having treatment to go forward but it’s more or less gone, yeah. It’s amazing.’ 

Linda & Anne Nolan: Stronger Together is out now.

Band: Linda’s cancer returned in 2017 and she has been fighting it since, and in March Anne learned her’s had returned (pictured with Coleen, Maureen,  and Bernie in 1981)