In 2011, while watching an episode of
Coronation Street (1960), Anna Bianconi-Moore, a nurse within the dermatology department at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, spotted a mole on Nicholls' shoulder and immediately contacted the show via e-mail to express her concerns. Nicholls was seen by the show's medical team, before being referred to a skin cancer specialist, where she was diagnosed with malignant melanoma. After the mole was successfully removed, ITV, the show's production company, contacted Bianconi-Moore to update her on the situation, and she was invited to the Coronation Street set, where she met Nicholls.