{"id":213547,"date":"2023-08-26T03:34:13","date_gmt":"2023-08-26T03:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bestwnews.com\/?p=213547"},"modified":"2023-08-26T03:34:13","modified_gmt":"2023-08-26T03:34:13","slug":"maureen-nolan-says-younger-sister-coleen-regrets-sharing-cancer-diagnosis-on-loose-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bestwnews.com\/celebrities\/maureen-nolan-says-younger-sister-coleen-regrets-sharing-cancer-diagnosis-on-loose-women\/","title":{"rendered":"Maureen Nolan says younger sister Coleen ‘regrets’ sharing cancer diagnosis on Loose Women"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Maureen Nolan discovered that her youngest sister, Coleen, had become the latest member of her family to be blighted by cancer, she was utterly shell-shocked.<\/p>\n

She and her family have been living in the shadow of cancer for nearly 20 years. But Maureen, 69, only learnt of Coleen\u2019s carcinoma diagnosis last month after the star opened up about it on Loose Women.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t see her announce the news on the show, so suddenly I\u2019m getting all these messages saying, \u2018Sorry to hear the news about Coleen,\u2019\u201d says the singer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was so shocked \u2013 I immediately phoned her and asked what had happened. I think she now regrets sharing the news on Loose Women.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Coleen, 58, later explained she hadn\u2019t wanted to tell her sisters about her diagnosis because it seemed like \u201cnothing\u201d compared to what some of them have been through.<\/p>\n

But it was in fact Maureen who first raised the alarm about a worrying \u201cbit of skin\u201d on her Coleen\u2019s neck months earlier.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember seeing the mark on her neck some time ago. I told her to have it checked, which eventually she did,\u201d she recalls. \u201cThen they found this mark on her face, which I believe is the start of melanoma, which is the worst kind of skin cancer. But she\u2019s using a chemo cream, so it should get better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coleen is the fourth of Maureen\u2019s sisters to have been affected by cancer. Last month marked the 10th anniversary of her beloved sister Bernie\u2019s death, at the age of 52. The singer and actress died three years after discovering she had breast cancer, while Maureen\u2019s eldest sister, Anne, 72, was diagnosed with breast cancer for a second time three years ago.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

While Anne is thankfully now in remission, younger sister Linda, who has battled breast cancer since 2006, isn\u2019t doing so well.<\/p>\n

Last month the 64-year-old revealed she was struggling to stay positive after learning that her cancer had spread to her brain.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was there when she was given the news \u2013 I take her to every hospital appointment,\u201d says Maureen. \u201cThe fact that the cancer is now in her brain is the news she was dreading.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut there is still a little hope, because the doctor said there is a new wonder drug that he could put her on if the chemo isn\u2019t working.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maureen says she marvels at her sister\u2019s sunny outlook, after so many setbacks. \u201cLinda really is an inspiration,\u201d she says of her sibling, who documented her health journey in her best-selling autobiography, From My Heart.<\/p>\n

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\u201cShe gets up every day and smiles and I don\u2019t know how she does it. She\u2019s on this chemo treatment now, which doesn\u2019t give her too many side-effects. But it\u2019s the fourth time she\u2019s had to lose her hair.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maureen says a glass-half-full mentality runs in the family. "With Bernie, who died in 2013, she had hope right up until the very last day and I think Linda has that same positive outlook,\u201d she tells us. \u201cSo I\u2019m still hoping for Linda.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Nolans\u2019 remarkable resilience in the face of adversity has been an inspiration to many, but it\u2019s hardly surprising their inner strength is so formidable. From an early age Maureen and her sisters \u2013 including Denise, 71 \u2013 learnt how to paint on a smile when the chips were down.<\/p>\n

Born in Dublin, the girls had a tough upbringing at the hands of their alcoholic father, Tommy, who launched his children as The Singing Nolans when Maureen was just nine years old.<\/p>\n

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\u201cLooking back, we were such a close family \u2013 and still are \u2013 but we were quite a dysfunctional family,\u201d she says. \u201cMy dad was an alcoholic and he would drive us, usually drunk at the wheel, to all our shows. As a child I just thought that was normal behaviour. I thought I was happy but, looking back, it wasn\u2019t all that happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

During her time in the all-girl group, Maureen toured with Frank Sinatra and went on to record one of the defining songs of the decade with their 1979 single, I\u2019m In The Mood For Dancing.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoing Top Of The Pops for the first time was a huge moment. It meant you had finally made it,\u201d she says, misty-eyed.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think the high point came when we were asked to tour with Sinatra. He was my idol and suddenly there we were, sharing the same stage and using his orchestra. It\u2019s a moment in my life I will never forget.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still going strong today, Maureen will soon be treading the boards in a touring production of Gary Barlow\u2019s hit musical Calendar Girls.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a fabulous, funny show and it\u2019s all based on a true story of these women trying to raise money for blood cancer,\u201d she says. \u201cThe musical is based on the movie and Gary Barlow has written some fabulous songs for this show. The tour is also supporting the charity Blood Cancer UK, which I\u2019m really pleased about.\u201d<\/p>\n

So will Maureen get to meet the Take That legend himself? \u201cI\u2019m really, really hoping so,\u201d says the star, who\u2019ll appear alongside West End icon Marti Webb and former EastEnders actress Tanya Franks. \u201cI have instructions to phone my sisters immediately if I see him, so they can all come and meet him.\u201d<\/p>\n

As well as starring in the feel-good musical, Maureen has another reason to celebrate \u2013 her son, Danny, and daughter-in-law Maddison recently gave her a fourth grandchild, a little girl called Marlie.<\/p>\n

Beaming, Maureen says, \u201cShe just makes me feel so happy to have her close. I know she\u2019s my fourth, but I\u2019m still over the moon and so happy for Dan.\u201d<\/p>\n

For ticket information on Calendar Girls \u2013 The Musical visit musicalsontour.co.uk<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<\/p>\n