Linda Nolan 'truly frightened' as cancer patients denied vital drug: 'Like a horror movie'

Linda Nolan has given a voice to breast cancer patients who have been unable to receive life-extending treatment. It comes after the drug, Enhertu, was rejected for use by the NHS in England - even though it is already prescribed in Scotland.

Linda, 65, was diagnosed with cancer 18 years ago and has been battling incurable secondary breast cancer since 2017. Now, she is urging people to sign a petition asking authorities to make the drug available to everyone in need of it.

Describing the current restrictions around the drug, Linda said in her column for the Mirror: “This is truly frightening and I’d urge readers to sign the petition for Enhertu’s approval to be reconsidered.

“As women we’re told to check, go to the doctor with any problem, then undergo treatment if we need it – and the outcome can be good. But to be denied the treatment, and potentially extra months or years?

“That’s a storyline which belongs in a horror film,” she added gravely. “Lives are at risk and everyone should have access to the drug, regardless of where they live. They’re being let down.”

The petition, launched by the charity Breast Cancer Now, already has 60,793 signatures after 65,000 was set as the total goal.

While Enhertu is not an option in Linda’s case, trials have shown that it increased average “progression-free survival” for other patients from seven months to two years.

Baroness Delyth Morgan, Breast Cancer Now chief executive, said: “Linda knows firsthand the importance of having time to make memories with loved ones.”

In 2020, Linda revealed a third recurrence of cancer in her liver, following treatment in 2006 for breast cancer, and later shared that it had spread to her brain.

Linda is not the only Nolan sister to suffer from cancer, as her sister Coleen recently opened up about her own skin cancer scare on Loose Women.

Tragically, Bernie Nolan died of breast cancer in 2013 at the age of 52.

Their sister Anne was also diagnosed with breast cancer for the second time three years ago and is now cancer-free.

To sign the petition visit www.action.breastcancernow.org/enhertu-emergency-sign-petition