Anne Nolan felt "a terrible melancholy" when she finished her chemotherapy treatment, because her sister Linda Nolan can’t beat her cancer diagnosis.
Both Anne and Linda – who make up the girl group The Nolans alongside Coleen and Maureen – announced they were diagnosed with cancer just days apart earlier this year, but whilst Anne’s tumour under her left breast was discovered early and can be cured, Linda was told her cancer was incurable after it spread to her liver.
And now, 69-year-old Anne has admitted that finishing her chemotherapy treatment wasn’t as momentous as she would have liked, because she knew her younger sister Linda, 61, wouldn’t be able to feel the same joy.
She said: "Chemo was absolutely horrendous for me and I was so happy it finally was over, but at the same time I felt a terrible melancholy that Linda wasn’t ringing the bell with me.
"I started my chemo a week before Linda, so she still has one more round to go, but she said to me: ‘Anne, I will ring the bell, but we all know my cancer is never going away’."
For Linda, the diagnosis came after she battled breast cancer in 2006 and secondary cancer on her pelvis in 2017, but after the cancer on her pelvis spread to her liver, she is now relying on medication and treatments to contain the disease, as a cure is not possible.
Anne – who has also battled breast cancer once before – added: "It’s desperately sad, but I can’t feel guilty because to feel guilt you have to have done something wrong, and although I’ve been told my prognosis is good, you can never tell with cancer."
The sisters’ battles with cancer also come after they lost their younger sister Bernie to cancer in July 2013 at the age of just 54.
And whilst Anne says her "prognosis is good", Bernie’s death has taught her anything could happen.
Speaking to the Daily Mail newspaper, she said: "My prognosis may be good, but Bernie was told hers was, too. None of us thought she would die."