Denise Nolan’s heartfelt tribute to her sister Linda was interrupted by awkward technical issues during Tuesday’s Good Morning Britain episode.
Denise, who lived with her sister Linda, joined Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley during a video link to pay tribute to the late star, which was abruptly cut off at the end due to connection loss. Beginning her tribute, the star revealed that she was in the ambulance with her sister on the Saturday night, before her tragic death on Wednesday 15th January. Over Christmas and New Year, Linda had contracted double pneumonia. The late star had been battling various forms of cancer for nearly 20 years, first diagnosed in 2005 with breast cancer.
“She was incredible, Denise began. I went in the ambulance with her on Saturday night and she was laughing and joking. I said I’ll see you on Tuesday, but that’s when it all went downhill so I never really spoke to her again, which was hard,” Denise recalled.
Denise then went on to reveal that it wasn’t the cancer that caused Linda’s death, it was the pneumonia that her immune system couldn’t handle. “She could have lived another few years but she got pneumonia, and her immune system was so bad she couldn’t handle it.”
The singer then went on to speak about Linda’s positive attitude over the years, and reflected on fond memories living together.
However, the conversation came to an abrupt end. Concluding, Richard could be heard saying: “Denise, it’s been a pleasure talking about her with you and I know it must be very difficult for you. But it’s lovely to hear you talking about her in the way that you have.” However, Denise could then be seen holding her ear piece and saying: “ Not hearing anything,” before Susanna announced: “I’m so sorry, we just lost the connection to you there Denise.”
Susanna called both Denise and Linda “remarkable women” before Lorraine Kelly joined the table to pay tribute.
Last week, Denise recounted Linda’s final days of her “beautiful, brave, hard-working and talented sister”. “She’d been laughing and joking, although the medical team had told her she had to stay quiet to let her treatment do its job. Everyone was being quietly optimistic as she’d seemed so cheerful. Then at 3.30am on Tuesday, we got the dreaded call, ‘Get to the hospital asap’,” she said.
Just two days before being taken to hospital, Linda said in her weekly Mirror column that she was feeling better after a Christmas “bout of flu”.
“I feel so grateful to be feeling well again. It feels like a whole new world out there. There’s nothing like the sensation of starting to feel better after an illness. I wake up every morning and I think, ‘This is another day to celebrate’,” she penned.
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