TV star Coleen Nolan has shared her shock at learning another of her siblings has been diagnosed with cancer. The Loose Women star's brother Brian, 69, revealed he was diagnosed with level 2 prostate cancer just three days after sister Linda Nolan's memorial service in February.
Mirror columnist Linda, 65, was the second Nolan sibling to die from the disease, following the sad loss of Bernie Nolan to breast cancer in 2013, when she was just 52. Anne Nolan, 74, was also diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000, and Coleen spoke in 2023 about her own skin cancer diagnosis.
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While Brian told the Mirror his doctors are hopeful about his treatment, Coleen, who turned 60 earlier this month, said the news made her numb. "I couldn’t speak. I went completely numb and about an hour later I wanted to punch walls and scream. In our family, cancer’s just there. But he was so positive and I’m just so proud of him.
"We’re a family that treat everything with as much humour as possible and we go ‘OK, we can face this together.’ That’s what we’ll do."
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Brian, who worked behind the scenes when his siblings were working as the Nolan Sisters, was given his diagnosis just three days after Linda's funeral, and said he wants to channel the strength shown by his siblings as he begins his own treatment.
Despite its prevalence in their family, he admitted it's never something you're prepared to hear. "You’re never ready for somebody to say, ‘Yes, you’ve got cancer’," he told us. "It’s like being hit by a train. You start plunging into the abyss of, ‘I’m going to die’.
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"The urologist stood up and said ‘We’re going to treat this and we’re going to cure this’. I’m focusing on that and hope to God I can have the courage my sisters had."
Brian, who lives in Blackpool with wife Ann, who he calls his "rock", said he noticed late last year that he was going to the toilet more often and the GP referred him for PSA tests (a blood screening for prostate cancer), followed by an MRI scan and a biopsy.
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He kept the news secret from the rest of the family, who were already dealing with Linda approaching the end of her life. "I thought I was doing the right thing and I still do," he explained. "It would have meant more tears and we were already knee-deep in tears and knee-deep in grief."
Despite dealing with his own health, Brian now wants to help spread awareness - particularly amongst men - of the signs and symptoms of prostate cancer, which kills around 12,000 men in the UK every year.
"I’m going to push for a campaign to send guys a letter once a year to tell them to have a PSA test," he shared.
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"What has happened to me has made me philosophical in a short time and angry really because I didn’t really know anything about prostates and I’m 69 years of age. The symptoms are very well hidden and they’re slow-growing tumours."
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