Ordinary women in storm of uncertainty as they wait in fear of a ‘personal blow’

AT THE very heart of the frenzy around the national cervical cancer crisis lies a frozen terror disguised by cheerfulness.

Women, putting on a brave face for their families and their friends as they go about their normal working day, waiting for a phone call that may come or a letter that may land on their hall floor.

Mothers, forcing themselves to pretend that life goes on as normal – as they put shoes on the feet of young children, meals on the table and their share of the mortgage in the bank.

Women, fearing that the fatigue they had been batting off may, in fact, be something more than the simple need of a decent night’s sleep and some time off work.

Ordinary, ceaselessly hard-working women, in the eye of the storm.

Holding normal ‘cheerful’ conversations with the people around them, all the while fervently praying that what they had been waiting for, in fact, never comes.

So far, of the 208 women directly affected by the cancer scandal, the HSE has made contact with 172.

There are still 36 women who remain unaware of their situation, including 14 who lie outside the public health system.

And of the 1,500 women estimated to be at risk from test errors, it is now thought that another 200 women within this cohort are likely to have received ‘false negatives’ and are at risk of getting cervical cancer.

In the meantime, doctors’ waiting rooms are ‘inundated’ with frantic patients querying their latest smear tests, terrified that the latest national scandal has, this time, come for them.

Amid a relentless drip, drip of information, the fear and uncertainty is paralysing for all.

But the certainty is even worse.

In the meantime, frenzy swirls around these outwardly calm women as they live their lives – and wait.

Politicians, bent over backwards to save their own hides, are trying in vain to explain how this nightmare exploded around them.

Head of the HSE Tony O’Brien is safe – for now, it seems – as he sits out the remaining 12 weeks in his position before heading off to his lucrative role at a US contraceptive manufacturer.

“The recent events are a personal blow to me,” he told the Oireachtas Health Committee.

Asked how Health Minister Simon Harris had found out about a case involving the HSE before he did, he said: “It made me feel significantly unhappy” – explaining that this was because Mr Harris was told about it and he was not.

At this point, frightened women would have been forgiven for screaming in frustration at their live Oireachtas TV feeds.

In this particular scenario, the only ‘personal blow’ is the phone call that may yet ring out or the letter that may land.

Having to carefully break the bad news to your partner, children and wider family.

A prolonged medical treatment that may or may not have a successful outcome.

‘Personal blows’, these would be.

Being forced to say goodbye before your time is up would certainly make anyone feel “significantly unhappy”.

Mr O’Brien would be wise to choose his words more carefully in the future, in the acknowledgement that these unknown women are facing the gravest of fear.

And that all Irish women are again facing the horrible realisation that they have – once again and for the umpteenth time – been let down badly by his agency.

From the frozen landscape of fear, the glimpses of the boys’ club in the far distance appears cosier than ever.

A distasteful coating of ‘fat cat-ism’ was laid over the surface of this scandal, with revelations that the chairman of Evofem Biosciences – the US firm that has added embattled O’Brien, to its board – had hosted a fundraising function for the Taoiseach.

The Taoiseach said it was a matter of public record that the chairman of that US firm, Thomas Lynch, had last year organised an event to support for Mr Varadkar.

“I know Thomas Lynch. He is well known to lots of people in business circles. He is a successful business person who is the chair of a number of bodies including that board,” the Taoiseach told the Dáil.

It was a link the besieged Government did not need.

Ten lawsuits by affected women are active.

In the Dáil yesterday, the Taoiseach built a veritable bunker out of female ministers – Josepha Madigan and Regina Doherty on his left, Helen McEntee and Mary Mitchell O’Connor in the foreground – as he fended off accusations of a cover-up.

He called for “calm, time and space” so the Government can get all the facts. But can the same luxury be afforded to women fearfully awaiting the worst of ‘personal blows’?

Women already know the answer to this is a flat no.

Frantic patients are querying their latest smear tests, terrified the latest national scandal has, this time, come for them