Smear test gaffe victim Vicky a hero

VICKY Phelan has rightly been hailed as a hero for speaking out about the cervical smear test scandal.

The terminally-ill mum of two was forced to prove she was dying before she won €2.5 million from a US lab in the High Court after she was not informed about an incorrect smear test in 2011.

Her case exposed the fiasco in the national screening programme Cervicalcheck which has left 17 women dead.

The 43-year-old has been a vocal critic of the HSE’S handling of the affair which has seen more than 200 women affected by the controversy.

And Vicky recently revealed she has been receiving calls from loved ones of those who died from cancer due to the scandal.

This wonderful woman has provided a reality check to a nation, reminding us what is truly important.

The affair has been labelled a State cover-up in what Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou Mcdonald described as “a culture of concealment”. But we would never known about it were it not for Vicky.

The Limerick woman has had some relief from the ongoing scandal after telling the Irish Sunday Mirror her daughter Amelia will meet singer Ed Sheeran at his Cork concert this weekend.

Hopefully her daughter’s meeting with the pop superstar will offer some well-needed respite from her health concerns and the storm still surrounding these botched smear tests.