Linda Nolan has died aged 65 following a diagnosis of secondary breast cancer – 20 years after her initial diagnosis.
Just weeks before her death, Linda admitted that she feared Christmas 2024 would be her last as she continued to live with the incurable disease. Heartbreakingly, her wish was to “keep breathing and see another one,” she told us.
The Daily Mirror Columnist passed away with her sisters at her side on Wednesday. Her final moments were said to have been full of ‘love and comfort’.
In a statement released to the Mirror, agent Dermot McNamara, says: “It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Linda Nolan, the celebrated Irish pop legend, television personality, Guinness World Record holding West End star, Sunday Times bestselling author and Daily Mirror columnist.”
The statement continued: “She passed peacefully, with her loving siblings by her bedside, ensuring she was embraced with love and comfort during her final moments. Linda’s legacy extends beyond her incredible achievements in music and entertainment. She was a beacon of hope and resilience, sharing her journey to raise awareness and inspire others. Rest in peace, Linda. You will be deeply missed, but never forgotten.”
The singer was first told she had breast cancer in 2005 and went into remission a year later. But in 2017, she devastatingly announced she had been diagnosed with a secondary cancer in her hip, which spread to her liver in 2020.
Three years later, the cancer had spread to her brain. The cruel disease also took the life of her beloved sister Bernie in 2013, at the age of just 52.
After beginning radiotherapy in 2017, in an emotional interview, Linda told the Mirror: “You put on a brave face but it’s a nightmare. My hip is so painful I can hardly walk. And my skin is burned and raw from radiotherapy. It’s crazy that something I know should be helping is causing such pain.”
As the tumours grew in her liver, The Mirror columnist took chemotherapy tablets – four in the morning and four at night. She became “so scared” every time she had a CT scan to see how her cancer was responding. “Every time I worry it’s spread again,” she told OK in 2021. “I’m scared of dying. There is so much to live for – you realise that when you’ve been through all that I have. Every day is a gift.”
Opening up more about her growing cancer, in 2023, Linda told the Mirror that the largest of her two tumours had grown in size. She said: “I sobbed when my consultant first told me. I know so many people are suffering and going through things, but I thought, just for once, could cancer just leave me alone? My heart sank.”
She had an inkling that something was wrong when she started to lose her memory and her balance was getting worse. After medics confirmed the cancer had spread, they placed her on a new life-extending cancer drug called Enhertu. The groundbreaking drug is available on the NHS on a selective basis.
“I’ve been so very lucky to have it,” she said. “When Bernie was getting her treatment, she knew every word and every spelling of every tablet she was taking. With me, if they tell me to take it, I’ll take it. I don’t need to know all the ins and outs, I’ll just do what I’m told.”
Although she dreaded the side effects of chemo, she said she was “ready for anything” to help her get back to full health. “I have done this before and I can do it again,” she added.
However last August, Linda had a change of heart and wrote in her column that she skipped her treatment as she “couldn’t face it”. She had been going every three weeks for the previous 18 months. “I’m so grateful for it, for stopping the spread of the tumours; I know I’m lucky it’s been working. But I’m also so fed up with it. There, I’ve said it,” she penned.
She described the ‘groundhog day’ of sitting in the hospital room and spoke frankly that she knew it wasn’t actually going to cure anything in the long run. The columnist also let on that she had been suffering with nausea, which had left her bedridden for two days.
Linda declared: “I certainly won’t be making a habit of it, but I think it’s important sometimes to say: enough. With cancer you get little enough control as it is.” The actress, from Dublin, revealed she used humour as her way of coping, but ultimately jokes couldn’t mask the true reality of how terrified she was. But she never allowed the fear to let her wallow in self-pity.
Although she had days where she felt “terribly down,” for the most part, she was determined to look onwards and upwards, planning days out with her sisters, including Loose Women star Coleen. However medical emergencies became commonplace as she dealt with the harsh diagnosis of secondary breast cancer.
In the December, she suffered yet another fall, with her telling the Mirror at the time: “My legs just gave way from under me.” After one fall left her looking like she’d done “five rounds with Michael Tyson”, her sister Denise and her husband Tom Anderson insisted she move in with them.
The support from her siblings, including brothers Tommy and Brian, had been invaluable to Linda, who lost her husband Brian to liver cancer in 2007. Coleen and Anne Nolan also received cancer diagnoses.
Collen revealed she had skin cancer removed while Anne, 73, first had cancer in 2000. Two decades later, she announced she had stage three breast cancer. Following a course of chemotherapy, she was cancer-free by the Decemeber.
The Nolans sold 30 million records with hits such as Attention To Me, Gotta Pull Myself Together and I’m In The Mood For Dancing.
Whatever people living with cancer need to ask about cancer, work, money or life. The big things and the small stuff. Macmillan is at the end of the phone and online to provide support. Call the Macmillan Support Line on 0808 808 00 00 or visit macmillan.org.uk and ask anything.
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