Linda Nolan’s heartbreaking plea over ‘last-ever Christmas’ amid tragic cancer battle
Share:
The food is prepped, and the presents are wrapped. But this Christmas will be bittersweet for Linda Nolan, who admits she’s scared it will be her last, as she continues to live with incurable cancer. When we catch up with the singer the morning after our exclusive festive shoot, we’re alarmed to learn she’s just suffered another fall, one of many this year.
“My legs just gave way from under me,” she tells us, matter-of-factly. “We’ve got five bath mats down on the bathroom floor, but it didn’t matter. I just went.” For Linda, 65, such medical emergencies are now commonplace, as she deals with a harsh diagnosis of secondary breast cancer, which spread to her hip, liver and brain. Despite moving in with her sister Denise and her husband Tom, accidents are inevitable as her body continues to live with the disease, which also took the life of her beloved sister Bernie in 2013 at the age of just 52.
“I try to stay positive,” Linda insists. “I’ll use jokes and humour as a way to cope, but of course it’s scary. And I have my days where I’m terribly down.” Linda bravely tells us her Christmas wish is to “keep breathing and see another one,” and despite apologising for her slightly slurred speech (“The cancer’s in my brain, I’m not drunk, I promise,” she laughs), there’s zero self-pity. Instead, Linda keeps us smiling throughout our chat, as she lets us in on her festive plans with her sisters, including Loose Women star Coleen.
“There’s about 20 of us coming over, and we’ll all bring food to the table and get together,” she says. “We’ll raise a glass for Bernie, my Aunty Theresa and our mum and dad. Coleen will be with her family on Christmas Day, but we’ll see her on Boxing Day. And there’s plans for a big New Year’s Eve party at hers, too. She’s booked us all into a hotel up the road, so it should be great fun.” For Linda, the holiday season has always been a time of magic and joy, so it’s little wonder she’s looking forward to the big day.
