Linda Nolan, the beloved Irish singer, actress, and TV star, has shared the emotional update on living with cancer.
In her latest candid column for The Mirror, Linda shares how she is coping with the devastating news that her brain tumours have grown, and the new life-saving treatment she has begun in response.
After receiving the shocking update from her consultant, Linda said did what felt most natural to her—she went for breakfast with her sister, Maureen.
“I sobbed when my consultant told me the tumours in my brain had grown. But somehow, afterwards, all there seemed right to do was to go and eat,” she wrote.
“A full English where they know if ‘it’s for Linda’ to add an extra rasher. Or pancakes with berries—where they know when ‘it’s for Linda’ to send a bowl of ice-cream alongside the bowl of cream.
“As we sat and ate, more and more of my family and friends showed up. There’s a Linda’s Treatment WhatsApp group and word had been sent out,” she explained.
Family members, including her brother Brian and his wife Annie, along with Denise and Anne, joined them. Despite the sombre reason for their gathering, Linda found solace in being surrounded by loved ones.
“Thank God we all like to eat. I just love it when everyone comes together. Weddings are preferable to tumour growth, but I’ll take it. It seems to be what happens in times of trouble and strife and I’m so lucky.”
However, once she returned home, Linda reveals felt the need to retreat and process the news in solitude.
“When we got home though, I just needed to be on my own. I went up to ‘tidy my bedroom’—like the good 65-year-old teenager I am—and let the news sink in. Then I didn’t come out for a couple of days,” she admitted.
During this time, her sister Denise played the role of caretaker, delivering tea, sandwiches, and soup while Linda stayed in bed. She spent the time watching Liverpool on TV and binging New Amsterdam on Netflix, allowing herself the space to feel the weight of her emotions.
“You have to let yourself self-pity sometimes. When I used to ask, ‘why us?’, Bernie would reply, ‘why not us?’ But, you know—why us? Why me?”
Despite the overwhelming emotions, Linda is determined to move forward. “I’m up now though. In fact, I was up on Bank Holiday Monday morning before 8am waiting for Brian to take me for my bloods… before Denise came down and told me I was a day early,” she shared.
Linda is now embarking on a new treatment, Enhertu, which she started this week. She acknowledges how fortunate she is to have access to this treatment, which is denied to many women in England due to cost.
“There’s a new treatment I can try and I’m so grateful… Now we wait and see if my hair stays put.”
