Linda Nolan marked an amazing milestone on Friday, ringing the cancer bell to mark the end of her chemotherapy.
MORE: Heartbreak for Coleen Nolan as sister Linda receives incurable cancer diagnosis
Speaking to HELLO! about the incredible moment, the sister of Coleen Nolan said: "It was an amazing feeling and I felt so emotional, especially when all the nurses came out and cheered. It's been such a lovely day."
WATCH: Linda Nolan emotional as she rings chemo bell weeks after sister Anne
Linda, 61, whose illness is incurable but treatable, was diagnosed with secondary cancer in her liver alongside her sister Anne – who has breast cancer - back in April, at the height of the lockdown, which Anne, 69, previously admitted made the situation "a double nightmare".
© Photo: Getty ImagesLinda and Coleen
Linda appeared on Good Morning Britain shortly after her diagnosis. "We've both had great treatment from our local hospital... you've heard of the Chemical Brothers, we're now the 'chemo sisters,'" she managed to joke.
Anne finished her chemotherapy treatment in August and was discharged from Blackpool Victoria Hospital. She is awaiting the results of a mammogram and depending on those, may have a lumpectomy, or a mastectomy, followed by radiotherapy.
Now Linda has joined her sister in celebrating the end of her treatment, and will next have an MRI scan.
Linda also battled breast cancer in 2017, saying at the time: "My brothers and sisters… my husband [Brian] called them the cavalry – it doesn't matter what happens, they come from all corners and they just surround you with this big 'Nolan wall' and you get it together. When I was suicidal and my depression, they were all there for me."
MORE: Coleen Nolan breaks down in tears over sisters' cancer battle
She told GMB viewers last month: "Usually my family would rush from all directions, and we'd all get together and laugh and chat.
© Linda NolanAnne also rang the bell recently
"But all we could do was phone Anne and say we're here and wave through the window. I think Anne has struggled with that because she has two daughters and grandchildren and not being able to hug them."
Linda and Anne lost their sister Bernie to breast cancer in 2013.
"I remember someone asking Bernie, 'Do you ever think why us?'" Linda tells HELLO!
"She replied 'Why not us?'"
"Women have lived with secondary breast cancer for years, but sometimes I get a dark moment," Linda continued.
"But I’m trying to spend my time not thinking like that, thinking 'When is it coming back?' because that way cancer wins.
"If it comes back I’ll fight it again. I don’t want to ruin the time I have being sad and scared."
"I don’t want to be pitied," she added. "We’ve been overwhelmed by the response from strangers sending us messages, which is so beautiful and amazing."
Ringing of the bell at the end of cancer treatment has become an important tradition, and most cancer facilities have a bell that patients can ring to mark the end of treatment. It's thought that the ceremonial tradition began in 1996, with patients often reciting a poem, too.
Pick a copy of next week's HELLO! magazine for our exclusive interview with both Linda and Anne
