EXCLUSIVE: With three of her sisters 'hit' by breast cancer, Coleen Nolan explains how the strength they’ve shown has inspired her to live without regrets and head out on tour
Coleen Nolan has seen her family blighted by breast cancer. Since her older sister Anne was first told she had the disease 23 years ago, sisters Linda and Bernie also received their diagnoses.
In 2000, Anne, now 72, was diagnosed with breast cancer and had treatment. Linda, 64, was diagnosed in 2005 and had a mastectomy in 2006, while Bernie was diagnosed in 2010. “Losing Bernie was a massive blow to the family. If there was a party to be had, Bernie would find it. If there was a reason to get us all together, she would do it. She was the smallest of us all, but she was the most enigmatic.”
With the family’s ethos being to find the good in things, Coleen explains that although she “dreads” the disease and is “scared” of it, she does her best to combat any feelings of anxiety before they grow. Following Anne, Linda and Bernie’s diagnoses, the Nolans decided to have genetic testing. “We all thought there had to have been a genetic component. The girls got tested for the BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene and none of them carried it, so there was no point in me getting tested,” she says.
It’s this awareness and ability to ask questions without fear that Coleen tells us is a crucial part of being vigilant when it comes to the disease. “Even if you’re embarrassed to go to the doctor because you think it’s nothing, just put your mind at rest and go. Let them tell you it’s nothing. That’s what they’re there for,” she says.
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