Nolan family’s cruel ‘cancer curse’ as brother Brian reveals diagnosis

Two of the eight Nolan brothers and sisters have passed away from cancer, and three more have already experienced the disease. A leading expert explains the biological quirk that could be the reason

Brian Nolan, big brother to the Nolan sisters, is the latest in the famous family to reveal he has cancer. The 69-year-old was told he had prostate cancer just three days after the funeral of his sister Linda, which he had courageously helped to plan despite his own ordeal.

The news is the latest ‘cancer curse’ for the singer siblings, who lost Bernie Nolan, 52, to breast cancer in 2013 before Linda, 65, died on January 15 this year. Anne, 74, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000 and Coleen, 60, learned she had skin cancer in 2023.

“I just want cancer to leave us alone”, said Brian, who went to his GP with urinary issues in November and following his diagnosis, will undergo surgery to remove his prostate gland. The urologist said, “We’re going to treat this and we’re going to cure this,” and the statement continued. I’m focusing on that and hope to god I can have the courage my sisters had”.

READ MORE: Coleen Nolan on the ‘shock’ of Linda’s death as she shares update on how family are doing

“I couldn’t speak,” said Loose Women star Coleen of being told her brother had cancer. “I went completely numb and about an hour later I wanted to punch walls and scream. In our family, cancer’s just there. But Brian was so positive and I’m just so proud of him.”

Brian kept his cancer fears secret for months as his sister Linda’s condition deteriorated, to protect his siblings from further anguish. The singer was first told she had the disease 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 Daily Mirror Columnist passed away with her sisters at her side and her final moments were said to have been full of ‘love and comfort’.

Their father, Tommy Nolan Sr, was the first to be struck by the cruel disease, dying from cancer in 1998. Bernie, Anne, Linda and Coleen later faced diagnoses. “You almost feel like it’s a curse that’s been on you but it’s not. So many families go through this,” said Coleen in an emotional episode of Piers Morgan’s Life Stories in 2021.

In an exclusive interview as he prepares for life-saving surgery, Brian explained how his family, which includes siblings Maureen, 70, Denise, 72, and Tommy, 77, has been referred to a genetic clinic for testing.

These days, much is known about the factors that can increase an individual’s risk, but why is it that the killer condition all too often targets entire families? An expert geneticist explains why some families might experience similar cases of cancer in members even if the members test negative for well-known genetic errors like the BRCA1 and BRCA2 faulty genes known as the “Jolie Gene,” which is presented here.

Most families will have at least one person who has or has had cancer, according to Cancer Research UK. But having a couple of relatives diagnosed with cancer doesn’t mean there is a cancer gene fault running in the family. There are typically a number of different types of cancer in families with a faulty gene inherited. The strength of your family history depends on: who in your family has had cancer, the types of cancer they have had, how old they were at diagnosis, how closely related the relatives with cancer are to each other.

A person’s family history is stronger the older they are, with it being more likely that the cancers are being brought on by an inherited faulty gene the more relatives who have had the same or related types of cancer and the younger they were when they were diagnosed. In the case of the Nolan family, who rose to fame after forming the girl group The Nolans in 1974, they have experienced similar cancers. In 2000, Anne was the first sister to be given a breast cancer diagnosis.

The star was then diagnosed with stage three breast cancer 20 years later in April 2020 and is now in remission after receiving the all-clear. Her younger sister Linda learned about her liver cancer, which their father passed away from shortly after receiving her second diagnosis.

This came after Linda was first identified with breast cancer in 2005. While she underwent gruelling treatment, her beloved husband Brian Hudson died from skin cancer aged just 60. Before leaving the Nolans, Brian served as their tour manager until 1983, and he became their wife’s manager after she left.

Having lost her husband of 26 years, Linda was left in a deep depression while living with breast cancer but was given the all-clear in 2006. However, in 2017, the disease returned as incurable secondary breast cancer in her hip. It was in 2020 that she was found to be suffering from liver cancer. In her brain in 2023, doctors discovered two sizable tumors that were surrounded by smaller ones.

Meanwhile, their late sister Bernie announced she had been diagnosed with breast cancer in April 2010. Following a mastectomy, chemotherapy, and Herceptin treatment, Bernie was declared cancer-free in October of the same year. She announced in February 2012 that she was no longer taking cancer treatment drugs.

However, Bernie’s cancer had returned by the end of October 2012. Doctors told the singer that the disease returned to her left breast, brain, lungs, liver and bones. The 52-year-old star passed away at her Surrey home in July 2013.

In 2023 it was revealed that Loose Women presenter Coleen, 58, had been diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma on her shoulder and melanoma on her face. Speaking with the Mirror in 2020, Linda confirmed that she, Anne, and Bernie tested negative for the BRCA gene mutation.

“Anne had breast cancer first in 2000, then me in 2006, then Bernie in 2010. The BRCA gene mutation was discovered after we tested for it, but it is unknown whether it is present. However, they did mention a rogue gene somewhere, which they haven’t discovered yet. They took our blood so they could use it for testing.

“It’s weird because the doctor said it’s not just bad luck that three sisters have got breast cancer. There’s something not right there, so for the other girls it’s very scary. They’re doubly aware of checking themselves because they could have this gene that we don’t know about.”

Speaking to The Mirror, consultant clinical geneticist at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, Dr Terri McVeigh, explained how families can inherit an alteration in genes that increases their risk of cancer, although some faults are too tricky to test with the current technology.

” Genes are tiny chunks of the DNA genetic code that we inherit from each of our parents. According to Dr. McVeigh, they are tiny structures inside our cells that control the production of proteins that perform various body functions. We normally have two copies of most genes, one of which we inherit from our mother and the other which we inherit from our father. There are about 20 000 different genes in existence. Some of these genes work to protect against the development of cancer – called tumour suppressors.

“Certain individuals are born with an inherited risk of cancer, because of an inherited alteration (also known as a variant or mutation) in one of these genes. A cell only needs to lose the one remaining copy of a gene in cases where one copy has already been damaged for unrestrained cell growth and cancer to develop. People from certain ethnic backgrounds may also be at higher cancer risk because some groups have had more genetic changes concentrated in their population over the generations.

Genetic testing is beneficial for these families because it can identify those relatives who are more likely to develop cancer and, crucially, allows us to take steps to promote early detection or prevention wherever possible. Very often, even if we suspect a hereditary cause of cancer, genetic testing doesn’t identify a genetic alteration.

As a result, “a situation like this cannot completely exclude the possibility that a family may still have inherited risk factors,” he said. “There may be gene alterations that we don’t routinely test yet, or there may be difficult gene parts that cannot be easily tested by current technology.” Dr McVeigh also highlighted how non-genetic risk factors can come into play, such as shared environmental exposures. Depending on the family history, doctors may suggest additional screening in cases where a genetic mutation is not discovered.

In high-risk populations, a screening program at the Royal Marsden has begun to identify so-called germline cancer predisposition genes so that patients with mutated genes can be closely followed to ensure a tumour is found early.

The NHS England Genomic Medicine service also offers genetic testing of patients who have already developed cancer. The expert continues, “Cancer genetics is a rapidly expanding field of medicine, and there may be opportunities for further genetic testing as our knowledge expands.”

Cancer Research UK warns that you may have a strong family history if some of the following situations apply to you: cancers developed when the family members were young, multiple close relatives on the same side of your family have had cancer, the relatives have had the same type of cancer, or different cancers that can be caused by the same gene fault, one of your relatives has had a gene fault found by genetic tests.

According to Nicola Smith, senior health information manager at Cancer Research UK, “environ 5 to 10% of cancer diagnoses are related to a parent bringing an inherited defective gene.”

” Faulty genes aren’t always passed on to children, but even when they are it doesn’t mean that a person will definitely get cancer – they just have a higher risk of developing particular types of cancer than other people. It is much less prevalent than smoking or other causes of cancer.

“However, if people are concerned that they have a strong family history of cancer – for example, if multiple relatives have had the same type of cancer at a young age – then they can talk to their GP. A genetics clinic can be used to examine a patient if they believe they may be at higher risk.

Source: Mirror