Two sisters from famous Irish family pop group The Nolans are undergoing cancer treatment at the same time.
It has emerged that both Linda and Anne Nolan underwent chemotherapy treatment during the COVID-19 lockdown.
The sisters announced the news on Twitter, saying they would get through it “together, as a family.”
Linda Nolan, aged 61, has liver cancer in her third diagnosis of the disease, following her diagnosis with secondary terminal breast cancer in 2017.
Anne Nolan, aged 69, has been diagnosed with stage three breast cancer for the second time, twenty years on from her first diagnosis.
In an interview with The Sun, the sisters said they found out about their diagnoses just days apart in May.
The news came shortly after their return home form filming their TV series The Nolans Go Cruising with their sisters Coleen and Maureen in March.
Linda recalled the moment they shared the news with their siblings, saying “We laughed and we cried really. It’s hysterical.
“Forget the Chemical Brothers, we’ve become the Chemo Sisters.”
Another sister in the family, Bernie, passed away from cancer in 2013.
Diagnosis
Linda said: “I thought my scans would just be fine as they normally are.
“On May 7th our sister Maureen called me at 10am to say that Anne’s breast cancer had been confirmed.
“Then half an hour later my oncologist’s secretary phoned me to say, ‘We need you to have an MRI scan because we’ve seen something on your liver’.
“I couldn’t tell anyone then because they were so obviously devastated about Anne. I thought, ‘I can’t turn around now and say, ‘Actually I’ve got it back as well’.”
Both sisters said they were moving in with different sisters and putting all of their energy into their recovery.
Linda said COVID-19 had been an additional source of anxiety: “I haven’t even given Anne a hug. Because now we’re frightened because our immune system is low that if we got something infectious or, God forbid, COVID, then it would be a real battle to stay alive.”
The sisters had their first chemotherapy session together in June, with Anne having a reaction which saw her hospitalised, and with both sisters losing their hair.
Linda said she is aware she will likely be living with the disease permanently but has hope of a long life. Anne is hopeful of a cure.
