Breath of fresh air
Cancer campaign hero Vicky vows to keep fighting for HSE overhaul... as long as she lives
CANCER campaigner Vicky Phelan has vowed to lobby for an overhaul of the health system for as long as she continues to breathe.
The Limerick mum of two, who continues to battle the disease, is leading a public campaign for survivors and explains what drives her to fight for the rights of other women in a similar situation.
Vicky was given just six months to live last year after being diagnosed with cervical cancer, but her actions helped uncover a scandal involving fatal misdiagnoses.
She said: “I know I have to pull back but I find that very hard. I’ll campaign for change for as long as I’m here, otherwise there’s another scandal waiting to happen.”
Radio documentary Vicky Phelan: The Woman Who Changed Ireland airs on BBC World Service today as part of its 100 Women season.
In it the 44-year-old university researcher reveals how she refused to accept her cancer was terminal when medics told her there was no treatment to help her. Vicky said: “They were talking about palliative chemotherapy and I said, ‘Palliative, so you’re telling me this is it, I’m going to die?’ I couldn’t take this in at all. I said, ‘Are you joking me?’ I said, ‘I’m 43, I’ve got two young kids. You actually think that I’ll give up and go home to die, because I’m not doing that’?” Vicky refused palliative chemotherapy and insisted on a biopsy – and became suspicious when she read her medical file in a hospital waiting area. She added: “I found this report, it was one page. I looked at it and the hairs stood up on the back of my neck.” The report submitted by Cervicalcheck said there were no abnormalities detected in a test taken in 2011, but on review the cells were found to be cancerous.
Vicky went to see her solicitor Cian O’carroll and launched a legal battle that would result in a €2.5million settlement against a US laboratory.
It later emerged she was one of 221 women who had abnormalities that were not initially identified in their smear tests and who went on to develop cervical cancer.
In October, mother of five Emma Mhic Mhathuna died of the disease after being given incorrect information by a US lab used by Cervicalcheck. The 37-year-old, from Co Kerry, went public in May and was awarded €7.5million after suing the health service. The documentary hears from other women affected who hail Vicky as a hero and say they would never have had the courage to fight without her to lead them.
Her daughter Amelia added: “I’m proud of my mum as she’s very strong, has really changed the country and she’s made everything better for women.”
Thanks to the wonder drug Pembro, Vicky is fighting cancer but admits her family want her to take a step back from campaigning for the sake of her health.
Vicky, who earlier this week revealed she was planning a tell-all book, said her refusal to sign a non-disclosure clause as part of her settlement was never in doubt.
She added: “When you’re given a terminal diagnosis you are kind of at the end of your options. Nothing matters except for what’s right. I was trying to do that, to make sure other women were not in the same situation as I was.”
I found this report and the hairs stood up on the back of my neck VICKY PHELAN ON SEEING HER MEDICAL FILE