Coleen Nolan becomes fourth Nolan sister to be diagnosed with cancer

Coleen Nolan announced her cancer diagnosis on Loose Women this week as the star becomes the fourth of her famous siblings to suffer from this disease.

On Monday's episode of Loose Women, Coleen Nolan made the sad announcement that she had been diagnosed with skin cancer. The talk show star revealed that she was diagnosed with common skin cancer basal cell carcinoma when she visited a dermatologist for an unrelated issue.

"I went back in and he was very good and he said, 'Look, it's nothing to worry about. It is actually a cancer that doesn't necessarily spread, but you do need to treat it, and we'll try it with cream and then the chemo cream and then if that doesn't work, we'll cut it out and give you a skin graft," said Coleen. 

Coleen then revealed that she was in denial and shock at first and even laughed at the doctor. "My first instinct, typical me, was to laugh hysterically because I just thought that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard anybody say," she said.

Coleen is the fourth Nolan sister to be diagnosed with cancer and spoke about struggling to tell her sisters Linda and Anne about her diagnosis.

"I'm sick of cancer and also, my first instinct was, I'm not telling anybody in my family because this that I've got at the moment seems nothing compared to what my sisters have been through," She said. "And... what Linda is going through, where it has gone to her brain and she's having chemo."

"It just seemed so pathetic for some reason to go back and go, 'Oh yeah, I've got a carcinoma'," she added.

Anne Nolan, Coleen's older sister battled breast cancer twice but has been cancer free for the past three years. Bernie Nolan also suffered from breast cancer and sadly died at the age of 52 in 2013.

Linda, Coleen's older sister, is currently battling incurable cancer, and recently revealed that the disease has now spread to her brain. Following Coleen's announcement on the talk show, Linda took to social media to support her sister and said that she was proud of her.

"Very proud of my little sis. She acted on her instincts, found something amiss and got it checked. If you spot something out of the ordinary for you, PLEASE get it checked. Don’t be frightened," said Linda.

Basal Cell Carcinoma is the most common form of skin cancer and thankfully it is extremely treatable. According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, this type of cancer "grows slowly, most are curable and cause minimal damage when caught and treated early." 

The NHS says that the typical treatment for this type of cancer is surgery. Other treatments can be less invasive and include "Non-surgical treatments, such as freezing (cryotherapy), anti-cancer creams, photodynamic therapy, radiotherapy and electrochemotherapy."