Linda Nolan‘s brother Brian has revealed he has been diagnosed with cancer just weeks after the TV star’s death.
Linda tragically passed away on January 15 2025 aged 65 following a 20-year breast cancer battle and suffering from double pneumonia.
Just three days after her death, grieving Brian, 69, was devastatingly diagnosed with stage two prostate cancer.
The Nolan siblings also lost Bernie to breast cancer in 2013 while Anne, 74, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000 and Coleen, 60, was told she had skin cancer in 2023. Brian is the fifth of eight Nolan siblings to battle cancer.
‘I just want cancer to leave us alone,’ Brian, the fifth of the eight Nolan siblings, heartbreakingly told The Mirror.
Brian described his diagnosis as ‘like being hit by a train’ and said he thought the worst when he was first diagnosed.
Linda Nolan’s brother Brian (pictured in March) has revealed he has been diagnosed with cancer just weeks after the TV star’s death
Linda (pictured in April 2022) tragically passed away on January 15 2025 aged 65 following a 20-year breast cancer battle and suffering from double pneumonia
‘You start plunging into the abyss of: ”I’m going to die”,’ he admitted.
‘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.’
The cancer has thankfully not spread and Brian will undergo surgery to remove his prostate gland.
Brian decided to keep his cancer fears quiet from his siblings as they were already devastated by Linda’s deteriorating condition before her death in January.
‘I thought I was doing the right thing and I still do, it would have meant more tears and we were already knee-deep in tears and knee-deep in grief,’ he added.
Despite his own struggles, he spent 28 hours sitting by Linda’s bedside in her final days.
His sister, Loose Women panelist Coleen, admitted she was lost for words after Brian told her of his shock diagnosis and went ‘completely numb’ and wanted to ‘scream’.
However, she also shared her pride at her brother’s strength and said they will face the challenge as a family.
Brian first went to the doctors in November after noticing he needed the toilet more, leading to doctors giving him PSA tests – which use blood to screen for prostate cancer.
He then had an MRI scan just after Christmas and a biopsy in the New Year before he was diagnosed with prostate cancer following Linda’s death.
Brian is being supported by his wife Ann and has decided to speak out about his diagnosis to raise more awareness about prostate cancer and its symptoms.
Linda was first diagnosed with stage-three breast cancer in 2005 before getting the all-clear in 2006 – but in 2017 she was diagnosed with a form of incurable secondary cancer in her hip, which spread to her liver in 2020.
Three years later she shared the news that the cancer had spread to her brain, with two tumours discovered on the left side of her brain which left her struggling with her speech and balance.
And she issued an update last August that the tumours – which were thought to be stable – had grown.
The Irish star was part of family group the Nolans, alongside her sisters Coleen, Maureen, Denise, Anne and Bernie – who died of breast cancer in 2013 aged 52.
Brian’s sisters have a history of cancer, with Linda, Coleen and Anne all receiving diagnoses as well as Bernie passing away from the disease.
Linda had admitted last November she ‘never expected to make it to Christmas’, meaning that the festive period meant all the more to her.
She said at the time: ‘I can’t wait. Not to be morbid, but I didn’t think I’d make Christmas, so it’s a real bonus.
‘We love Christmas as a family and we’re all going to gather at Denise’s. It will be great. We all have such a good time when we get together so I can’t wait. I especially love seeing all the little ones and how excited they get.’
And just before the festive season she admitted to OK! magazine she was afraid of death, saying: ‘What scares me the most? Dying. I am sad that it is going to happen.
‘When people start talking about ‘putting things in order’ – I don’t want to talk about that. I don’t want to think about my affairs. It’s so final.
‘Every birthday and every Christmas, I want to make it to the next one. This year, for instance, I will certainly raise a glass and say, ‘Here’s to 2025’.
‘I have to be like that, I can’t be a grey cloud of doom.’
Linda had appeared on ITV’s GMB last August, revealing how she was being set on a new course of chemotherapy – and sharing the news that she could face losing her hair once again.
She also described the physical toll the ongoing treatment was taking on her smile, pointing to a gap in her teeth and exclaiming: ‘Look, I’ve lost a tooth!’
Linda said of cancer’s prevalence in her family: ‘I’m just like everybody else really, I just want it to go – or leave us alone for a little while at least.’
