Remembering Vicky Phelan
A woman who changed Ireland
vicky Phelan captured the hearts and minds of Irish people with her courage, her strength and her bravery. From the moment she stood outside the High Court in 2018 and called for an investigation into the CervicalCheck screening programme, it was clear that Irish people had a powerful new advocate.
In making her voice heard, Vicky altered the skewed prism through which women's healthcare in Ireland has been viewed for generations. She leaves behind an enormous legacy to Irish society, not least of all a generation of women who are not afraid to listen to their bodies and ask the hard questions about the advice they are given.
She earned the love and respect of the nation with her straight-talking manner, her compassion for others and her belief in taking a stand. Ireland has lost a leader, a woman who had so much more to give but this opportunity was taken from her, and her family. She left this country in a better place than she found it and that is her gift to us all. She was a woman who changed Ireland.
A talisman for the women who had been failed by a flawed system
Vicky Phelan harnessed her anger to become a voice for women who had been failed by the system.
by
Marjorie Brennan
Vicky was presented with the Trish Murphy Memorial Award in 2018 for her outstanding contribution to women in Ireland. Picture: Andrew Downes, Xposure
society doesn’t look too kindly on angry women. ‘Good’ girls don’t lose their cool, they don’t rock the boat, or the system — they are polite, pleasing, co-operative. When Vicky Phelan stood outside the High Court in April 2018 and called for an investigation into the CervicalCheck screening programme, she was angry and she didn’t care who knew it.
The impact that her impassioned speech and all that followed had on women throughout Ireland can never be underestimated.
Vicky took her anger, and the power that came from it, and harnessed it with grace and grit, becoming a talisman for the countless women who had been ignored, dismissed, and condescended to by a flawed system.
From the day she heard she was not the only woman to have been left in the dark by CervicalCheck, she was determined to lead the charge, so others did not have to do the same.
Vicky Phelan with National Women's Council of Ireland director Orla O'Connor at #FemFest 2019.
Dealing with a diagnosis of terminal illness is a lonely path, truly understood only by those who go through it, but no one would have expected anything else from Vicky other than for her to retreat after a settlement was reached and concentrate on herself and her family. Instead, she chose to put her head above the parapet at a time of huge personal torment and turmoil to fight and campaign for others.
Her drive and determination were forged long before she took up the fight for women affected by the CervicalCheck scandal. It could be seen as a child, when she pestered her mother to bring her to see the local headmaster, pulling a book from her satchel and reading from it, to prove to him that she was ready for school even though she was not yet four years of age. She started the following week.
It was evidenced in the way she picked up the pieces after what she described as one of the defining moments of her life — when she ended up in a coma after a car crash in France that claimed three lives, including those of her boyfriend and her friend, and paralysed another of her friends.
It was her first experience of challenging the medical establishment — she spoke about how, on her return to Ireland, she had stood up to a surgeon who had written in her report that she had an “attitude problem”.
And how thankful we were for that attitude.
What also made Vicky so remarkable was that she found the strength, energy, and the time, to fight for others during the toughest fight of all. It is a natural instinct to turn inwards while dealing with any illness — to focus on whatever it takes to keep going, for yourself, and others who are close to you. However, she turned outwards, shining her light on those who needed it, serving as a support to other women in a similar position, while also turning to the heartbreaking task of making memories with her family and children — whether that was the joy of attending a gig by one of her favourite bands, The Stunning, or meeting Ed Sheeran with her daughter Amelia at his concert in Cork.
This portrait of Vicky Phelan by artist Vincent Devine reflects her past, present and future against the dramatic backdrop of Doonbeg beach. In the left panel, a powerful horse has been halted in its tracks. In the centre panel, a bird rests on Vicky’s right hand, representing her daughter; her left hand surrounds an oak sapling, symbolising her son. The devasting tumours are revealed in her torso. And in the right panel, a serene white horse contemplates the scene, the nearby flickering candle reminding us of the fragility of life.
She seized new opportunities, including a role as guest editor on the Irish Examiner supplement Feelgood, in which, despite her own experience, she urged women to continue to get their smear tests.
It also took a lot of bravery and effort to share her story in her beautifully-written memoir Overcoming, which will serve as a fitting testament to an ordinary, turned remarkable, life. Anyone who has ever been affected by cancer, which is most of us, will have recognised the nerve-shredding experiences she described, as she captured the pain of it all with honesty and a distinct lack of bitterness.
She gave a voice to the hundreds of thousands of Irish people affected by cancer and was the embodiment of showing strength in vulnerability, sacrificing her privacy to lay bare the harrowing details of her treatment and its side effects, giving an insight into the brutal ravages of cervical cancer.
She also lent her voice to other health issues affecting women — greatly aiding the movement towards open discussion of topics such as menstruation, miscarriage, birth trauma, and menopause. For a generation inculcated with an automatic respect for authority figures, her fearlessness in tackling those in powerful positions was another reason for admiration. She took on those who criticised her, including the head of CervicalCheck, over her stance on natural health treatments.
In 2018 Vicky was awarded an honorary fellowship at Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT), where she had worked. Picture: Patrick Browne
Vicky was always aware of her integrity, writing in her book of how she considered refusing an honorary doctorate from the University of Limerick because of her unease about a possible encounter with the university’s then chancellor, former health minister Mary Harney, who had presided over the original outsourcing of smear testing in Ireland.
Ms Harney later wrote to her saying she would be unable to attend the conferring as she had to attend meetings in Brussels, putting Vicky’s concerns to rest. Ms Harney added that she could not remember a time in the recent past when the entire population had felt more empowered by the actions and voice of one woman.
Vicky had an impressive intellect, and the enviable skill of being able to distill complicated scientific and medical information for the layperson, something I experienced first hand when she generously took the time to chat to me for an article about Pembro — the drug that she credited with prolonging her life — shortly after she had been hospitalised with an infection.
Reading people’s stories and knowing that they are relying on you to help them, it’s hard
As she sat down with a cup of tea on the other end of the line, she patiently talked me through the treatment and its effects. She didn’t sugarcoat the impact of her campaigning either. When I asked her how she kept going, she said she felt compelled to help those who did not have the wherewithal to take on what she had.
“People are contacting me the whole time so I know there are a huge number of people out there who couldn’t do this, they don’t know where to start, they don’t know what to do,” she said.
“Reading people’s stories and knowing that they are relying on you to help them, it’s hard. But still she didn’t turn away. She faced her own fears, while taking on the worries of others.
She was the warrior the women of Ireland needed to stand up and fight for them, the formidable, fierce, and defiant leader who taught us to embrace our anger and who so eloquently voiced our hurt, pain, and frustration.
For that, she will be forever loved and never forgotten.
A disruptive force in the face of intransigent bureaucracy
"I would like my legacy to be change, change in healthcare, and in the way women are treated."
by
Aoife Moore, Political Journalist
Vicky outside the High Court in Dublin in April 2018 after the settlement of her action against the US laboratory. Picture: CourtPix.
I was just an ordinary woman. I simply told the truth and wanted others to know the truth."
ordinary women are often called on to be extraordinary in Ireland, and Vicky Phelan is one of the most extraordinary women this island has ever produced.
Diagnosed with cancer in July 2014, she had been told a previous smear test done in 2011 had been clear, until she was told it wasn't. By 2018, she was told her cancer was terminal, and when most of us would give up, she got to work.
She began "voraciously reading" to understand why these tests were outsourced, why the health service did not have the capacity to carry out this necessary service for women's health and was determined to have it changed. Vicky refused to be gagged, refused a non-disclosure agreement and exposed the crisis in the CervicalCheck programme, in a move that would change the trajectory of women's healthcare in Ireland for good.
She had an ability to speak to the media with ease, making time for journalists, giving those starting out in their career in local papers the same time and frank honesty as those who had graced the small screen for years.
Stephen Teap, Lorraine Walsh and Vicky Phelan, surrounded by some of the 221 cervical cancer patients who received an incorrect smear test, speak to the media outside the Dáil after the Taoiseach apologised to the victims of the CervicalCheck controversy. Picture: Sam Boal/RollingNews.ie
Vicky used her voice for good, to ensure that what happened to her and more than 220 other women would not happen to anyone else.
“It’s as simple as that for me. In order to do that, I have to work with the people who failed me, ultimately. That’s difficult but at the end of the day there’s a good reason for doing what I’m doing," she said at the time.
Like all the women that the state has failed, Vicky was forced to relay the most intimate details of her disease and the toll it took on her parents, children and eventually her marriage, and smile politely while doing it.
Irish women are called on to split themselves open to be heard, to lay out their trauma and embarrass those in charge for change to happen, and Vicky spoke for us all when she said she was sick of it.
On the foot of her work, a review was launched, and in September 2018 Dr Gabriel Scalley's report into CervicalCheck found a litany of failures in the screening programme.
The effect was profound, the changes to the health service and screening services would be long-term and make the service safer for women. Intelligent, determined and vocal, Vicky challenged the Department of Health and CervicalCheck to deliver an effective, transparent service. She was much more than a woman who had been failed; she was a disruptive force in the face of intransigent bureaucracy. There was no middle ground when it came to protecting the rights of women affected by the CervicalCheck controversy.
Vicky at the launch of the 221+ CervicalCheck Patient Support Group, held at Farmleigh, Dublin, in October 2018. Picture: Paul Sherwood
She took on politicians, from ministers to backbenchers and refused to mince her words. She called on those in charge to do better and challenged institutionalised misogyny that had cost women their lives.
Tanaiste Leo Varadkar, who met Vicky three times as Taoiseach, said: "two things struck me about her".
I was just an ordinary woman. I simply told the truth and wanted others to know the truth."
"She’d every reason to be angry or distressed but never displayed it. Maybe she did in private but never in public or in my interactions with her, so I really admired the resolve in that sense. I think the fact she always continued to express confidence in screening despite her experience was really important as it showed real leadership."
Throughout the research for this article, even those who Vicky held to account and publicly criticised, spoke of her with great respect. She had weathered two Taoisigh and two health ministers and never faltered.
Even in her darkest times, Vicky was still a dedicated mother, friend and good person. Politicians have shared privately how Vicky would message them on the birth of their children or congratulate them on achievements, even when her illness took hold of her.
She continued to advocate that women go for smear tests. Even though the system failed her, she encouraged all women to take every precaution to ensure it didn't happen to them.
Vicky Phelan addresses journalists outside Government Buildings after speaking with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in 2018. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins
Vicky knew what she meant to the public. She has shared letters and cards she has received in their hundreds, thanking her for all she has done for us. "I love it," she told Ryan Tubridy, "because I do what I do for other people."
"All is not always lost, there is always another option."
Emma Mhic Mhathúna, a mother of five children, was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2016, having previously received two incorrect smear results. Following her death in 2018, Vicky said:
"A fitting legacy for Emma is to get accountability. At the moment, the only way we can get it is by improving the screening process we have to make it fit for purpose ... to make it one Emma would be proud of.
Towards the end of her own life, Vicky dedicated her life to her family and the women of Ireland, and we can only hope she knew how grateful we were.
"Why I started was for answers for myself but I have results that can change this country for all of us and our children," she said last year.
"I would like my legacy to be change, change in healthcare, and in the way women are treated."
When the story of Ireland is written, it will not be the elected men who pontificated on the state of the nation who will be remembered most, but the women like Emma, Vicky, Irene and the 200-plus women who took on a state that refused to look them in the eye and won.
The legacy of Vicky Phelan will be the lives she has helped to save.
An ordinary woman, who did the extraordinary. Thank you, Vicky.
A woman who believed in getting it right
Vicky Phelan stepped in as Feelgood’s guest editor for International Women’s Day in 2019
by
Irene Feighan, Feelgood Editor
Vicky at the Limerick photoshoot for her 2019 guest-edited edition of Feelgood. Picture: Cathal Noonan
it started with a simple text. ‘Hi Vicky, I edit Feelgood a weekly health and lifestyle supplement. Wondering if you are free tomorrow for a brief chat about a possible project? Many thanks.’ We spoke the following day over the phone about the possibility of her guest-editing an edition of ‘Feelgood’. There was nothing complicated about the conversation - she simply said, yes and we arranged to meet on Friday, January 25, at 11.30am.
I pulled up outside her house in the outskirts of Limerick with about two minutes to spare. I checked my bag for the essentials - notebook, biro, phone - took a deep breath and approached the hall door. Though I’d prepared for the meeting, making notes of key dates and events, I was apprehensive. Here was a woman who from the time she first spoke to the media outside the High Court on April 25, 2018, had sent shockwaves through the medical system. No, she would not take her €2.5m award and go home quietly to die. No, she would not accept that palliative care was her only treatment option. No, she would not stop campaigning for the rights of other women and their families who were affected by the CervicalCheck scandal.
I rang the bell but there was no reply. I could hear the hoover and guessed she couldn’t hear me. I waited and rang again. She opened the door, said hello, but looked tense. The new family pet - a bulldog called Alfie had just wet the floor and she was cleaning up after him. She was a germaphobe, she told me. I appreciated her honesty - it set the tone for our meeting.
We sat in the sitting room - Alfie insisted on joining us – and we started by going through the details of her case. It was difficult to hear how a false negative reading in 2011 missed early-stage cervical cancer. She was not diagnosed until 2014 and by then needed aggressive treatment. In September 2017 her consultant informed her that a CervicalCheck audit of her 2011 smear test suggested it had been misread.
Weeks later, following a CT scan, she was told she had inoperable cancer. The diagnosis was terminal. Her story couldn’t be bleaker, but Vicky was determined to tell the bald truth. She had no time for small talk.
There was a lot of information to absorb. At one point I asked a question about her first diagnosis but got the year wrong. She paused, inhaled sharply and corrected me. I apologised. The moment passed quickly but it gave me an insight into her mindset: ‘This is important - get it right’.
We took a break for a cup of tea and biscuits in the kitchen. In true Irish style, we relaxed as we sipped from steaming mugs at the table. The conversation flowed, and we finally got to talk about the guest edition. But three hours had passed, and it was time for the school run. The trust established, we decide to continue via email.
There were a lot of decisions that needed to be made. Vicky was a natural editor, understanding the need to line up interviews, take pictures, commission copy, edit, proof, and sign off.
Then there was silence. I didn’t hear from her in over a week and was worried. An email landed. She’d been admitted to hospital. But she was upbeat - it was a viral infection and not a cancer-related setback.
Back on track, I tentatively asked about a photoshoot. Once again, she said yes. Brown Thomas Limerick took charge, quickly organising hair, makeup and clothes. I arrived while Vicky was getting her makeup done in the store. I fussed and fretted all afternoon, her recent hospital visit on my mind. But somehow, she found a way to rise above it all and enjoy the shoot. She made sure to chat with everyone, thanking each person for their help. And perhaps because she believes in giving back, bought the beautiful shirt the stylist had picked for the shoot.
Vicky made time to talk with all involved in the Limerick photoshoot. Picture: Cathal Noonan
Photographer Cathal Noonan had already done a recce and had identified various locations in the city center. Though it was February, the sun was as bright as a spotlight - we could have been on a film set. The first shot, featuring Vicky and her reflection in a window, was the clear winner. But Vicky’s favourite was the one taken at the end of the shoot when she returned to Brown Thomas. Job done, she sat down and smiled at the camera. She looked radiant.
She texted me when she returned home. “Thank you for such a lovely day today. After being stuck in bed for the last few weeks, it really was a treat today between the hair, makeup, and getting styled.”
We ploughed on with the supplement - discussing every article and page. She was determined to meet the deadline, even working on the train home from Dublin where she’d undergone treatment.
Her guest-edited edition was published on March 8, International Women’s Day. It featured a range of articles from the need to get a smear test and the HPV jab to learning new ways to be intimate post cervical cancer treatment.
She was thrilled. ‘I feel like a proud mom,’ she wrote. ‘I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity and the platform to discuss cervical cancer to help other women who may be out there and not getting the supports that they need and to raise awareness both about the disease and the importance of the HPV vaccine.” I was proud too of what Feelgood and Vicky had produced together.
We kept in touch and arranged to meet in Limerick on June 21. I wanted to talk to her about other educational work we could do together around cervical cancer prevention.
She walked into the cafe with a broad, relaxed smile. She told me her symptoms had retreated and that she was feeling great. Over tea and waffles, we talked and talked and talked. She was energised by her political influence. She spoke about the Taoiseach’s office being in touch, about her trust for Simon Harris, about the Scally Report, and about Stephen Teap and Lorraine Walsh who were on the cervical cancer steering committee. She had read almost everything written about her and was scathing of the journalists who didn’t support the women affected by the CervicalCheck scandal.
We discussed my idea for the next joint venture. She was keen but the summer holidays beckoned giving her precious time to spend with her children and was already started working on her book.
Vicky's memoir 'Overcoming’, written with Naomi Linehan, was voted the An Post Irish Book of the Year 2019. Picture: Maxwell Photography
Life is too short not to appreciate the simple things - a blue sky, birds singing, a hug from my children.
Her memoir Overcoming, which went on to win the An Post Irish Book Award, created a huge stir. In September, she emailed me from the train on her way up to The Late Late Show to talk about her book. “I am soaking it all up, Irene. I didn't think I would be here to tell my tale so now that I am, I am going to take full advantage of every opportunity.”
Though busy at home and with public commitments, Vicky continued to be supportive. She contributed to ‘Feelgood’s’ 20th-anniversary edition in July 2020. In response to my request for her top health tip she wrote: “I live in the moment because I don't know how long I have left. Life is too short not to appreciate the simple things - a blue sky, birds singing, a hug from my children.” At the start of 2021, we started to plan for an online International Women’s Day event.
Vicky’s name was raised as a speaker and I offered to contact her, though I was hesitant as I knew she was about to start treatment in Maryland.
There was no response, I was not surprised. Then came an email in February. “I would be delighted to participate BUT it will all depend on how I am feeling at the time, something which I have no control over so it may well be that I will have to pull out at short notice.” Once again, she found the energy to pull through.
Vicky's favourite photograph from the Limerick photoshoot. Picture: Cathal Noonan.
We had a chat on the phone to discuss the interview. She was as clear and incisive as usual. I sent her the questions I was planning to ask. She replied with in-depth answers to each one. It was another insight: Vicky Phelan did not do things by half measure.
Our interview on the day went well – thanks to the detailed preparation, it all flowed easily. When the recording was finished, she stayed on the video link to chat. She reminded me of the joint educational project we had discussed in 2019 and that she was interested in following up on it when she returned home from the States. She believed the experimental treatment would buy her time.
But by March 11 she was back in hospital. I sent a text to wish her well, adding that our write up on her latest Instagram video had got a huge response online. She replied:
It’s heartening to know how much support I have at home”.
Though Vicky fought fiercely to live, she knew she was being shadowed by a ‘black horse’ which has finally outrun her.
In Overcoming she wrote: “My ashes will be scattered in the water, on the silver sands of the beach at Doughmore. And I will become part of the sea once more. Part of the wild Atlantic Ocean … where only the white horses can catch me.”
May her fearless spirit run free with the white horses.
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