'BERNIE HAD HOPE AND LINDA HAS THE SAME POSITIVE OUTLOOK'

MAUREEN NOLAN REVEALS HOW HER FAMILY KEEPS A GLASS-HALF-FULL MENTALITY - DESPITE YET ANOTHER CANCER DIAGNOSIS

- TONY COWELL

When Maureen Nolan discovered that her youngest sister, Coleen, had become the latest member of her family to be blighted by cancer, she was utterly shell-shocked.

She and her family have been living in the shadow of cancer for nearly 20 years. But Maureen, 69, only learnt of Coleen's carcinoma diagnosis last month after the star opened up about it on Loose Women.

"I didn't see her announce the news on the show, so suddenly I'm getting all these messages saying, 'Sorry to hear the news about Coleen," says the singer.

"I was so shocked - I immediately phoned her and asked what had happened. I think she now regrets sharing the news on Loose Women."

Coleen, 58, later explained she hadn't wanted to tell her sisters about her diagnosis because it seemed like "nothing" compared to what some of them have been through.

But it was in fact Maureen who first raised the alarm about a worrying "bit of skin" on her Coleen's neck months earlier.

"I remember seeing the mark on her neck some time ago. I told her to have it checked, which eventually she did," she recalls.

"Then they found this mark on her face, which I believe is the start of melanoma, which is the worst kind of skin cancer. But she's using a chemo cream, so it should get better."

Coleen is the fourth of Maureen's sisters to have been affected by cancer. Last month marked the 10th anniversary of her beloved sister Bernie's death, at the age of 52. The singer and actress died three years after discovering she had breast cancer, while Maureen's eldest sister, Anne, 72, was diagnosed with breast cancer for a second time three years ago.