Coleen Nolan made the difficult decision to move her mother into a nursing home as she struggled with Alzheimer’s
Loose Women star Coleen Nolan admits she still feels “guilty” about moving her mother into a care home, despite it becoming too “dangerous” to look after her at home. Coleen and her family made the difficult decision to move Maureen into a care home as she battled with Alzheimer’s.
It led the family to make the “heartbreaking” decision to move Maureen into a nursing home so she could receive 24/7 support. Coleen says Maureen, who died in 2008, was “barely recognisable” towards the end of her life.
On the Loose Women: Just Between Us podcast, Coleen, 60, explained how the family let Maureen pick her own nursing home. It came after a podcast listener said they were struggling with deciding whether to move their father into a home.
Coleen said: “We knew she had to go into a home because she was getting to the point where it was dangerous on her own, and with us, we weren’t trained and it was 24/7 and we all worked. We did this thing where you can choose it.
“In actual fact, the one I would have chosen for her, she hated. It was brand new, it was like a five-star hotel, it was this, that and the other and her own bathroom, it was modern and beautiful and she went, ‘Well I’m not staying here’.
“She hated it. The one she picked, when we walked in I went, ‘She won’t like this one’. [And she said] ‘I like this one, It’s homely’.”
The star however says she still feels “guilty” about the decision. Speaking to fellow Loose Women star Charlene White, she added: “I hate the guilt.”
In 2008, Coleen opened up about her mum’s condition to the Mirror. She said: “Her mind has deteriorated so much that she is barely recognisable as the woman I grew up adoring. I can’t stand to see her like this, she has no quality of life.”
Dublin-born Maureen trained as a soprano at the Royal Irish Academy and had her own singing career.
She developed a music act that saw all 10 members of the Nolan family performing on stage together.
Her five oldest daughters – Bernie, Denise, Linda, Anne, Maureen, and Coleen – went on to form The Nolans in the 1970s. They had a number of hit singles including I’m in the Mood for Dancing, Gotta Pull Myself Together, Who’s Gonna Rock You, Attention to Me, and Chemistry.
Coleen says her mum was “at peace” listening to music towards the end of her life. Speaking to the BBC in March, she said: “We did try music and talking to her.
“I know there would be times when she’d be very quiet and just watch a video or a musical and she seemed at peace doing that.”