Coleen Nolan urges fans to check skin as she ‘clears the air’ on cancer diagnosis

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Loose Women favourite Coleen Nolan has urged her fans to get themselves checked after she dismissed marks on her body that were later discovered to be cancerous.

The 58-year-old ITV panellist addressed her 339k Instagram fans this morning to "clear the air" about her experience, saying she wanted to raise awareness of skin cancer, which kills more than 2,500 in the UK every year.

"My whole point of talking about it really was to raise awareness, because the problem with your skin is, as was mine, I kept thinking 'it's a bit of eczema, it's a bit of dry skin'," she said, adding that she also put it down to "being menopausal."

She said while the skin cancer isn't currently "dangerous", that's only because she "found it in time".

Coleen urged other women to be vigilant about changes to their skin – particularly women who might mistake symptoms of the disease for normal changes in their bodies.

"There are side effects of the menopause as well," she said. "Your skin goes all over the place, as does everything else.

"So it's just really important because it doesn't hurt because it's not causing you pain or making you ill. It doesn't mean that you shouldn't check anything out that is slightly out of the ordinary."

Coleen has been flooded with supportive message since sharing the news, and her social media post today attracted hundreds of comments, including one from Married At First Sight's expert Melanie Shilling, who thanked her for talking about it publicly.

The Australian star wrote, "Thank you for talking about this Coleen … growing up in the 70s and 80s in Australia, we were exposed to such harsh UV rays and now we are all hitting our 49s & 50s … many of us are finding BCCs and pre-cancerous spots.

"Aussie fans of Coleen – please let me double down on her message – get your skin checked (& it’s not just the moles) I’ve had 2 removed and they showed up as dry skin spots x".

"Firstly, can I put all your minds at ease?," Coleen said this morning, "Honestly, I don't have…well, I do…but I don't have dangerous skin cancer because I found it in time.

"One of them on my shoulder was a carcinoma that's been cleared up, and I've got two little spots on my face, which are pre melanomas, so they will affect me much later on in life. If I don't treat them now, they could turn into skin cancer much, much later on.

"So, I am going to treat them."

Speaking on Loose Women on Wednesday, Coleen said she felt "guilt" over the cancer, and initially wanted to keep it a secret from her family to avoid adding to their worries.

Coleen has witnessed the devastating effects of cancer first-hand, losing her sister Bernie, who died from breast cancer 10 years ago this month aged just 52.

Her older sister Linda, 64, is also currently battling an incurable form of the disease, receiving her diagnosis six years after their eldest sister, Anne, 72, revealed she had breast cancer.

The bubbly presenter said she was "sick of cancer" and her experience “seems like nothing compared to what my sisters have been through”.

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