Trailblazing campaigner Vicky Phelan wanted women to be proactive about their health. She had plans to spearhead a 'Read My Lips' call-to-action promoting cervical screening in association with the Irish Examiner, but sadly time was not on her side.
In memory of Vicky, we join forces with high-profile Irish women, including sports broadcaster Jacqui Hurley, TV presenter Muireann O'Connell, beauty entrepreneur Aimee Connolly, authors Sarah Breen and Emer McLysaght, lecturer and GP Sumi Dunne, and 221+ founding member Lorraine Walsh to realise her wish. Their key message is 'Read My Lips: Choose screening - book a cervical screening test today.
It took someone like Vicky to stand up and change the way we think about ourselves... Whether you are a mother, have other responsibilities, or whatever is going on, it’s about stopping and booking that screening or taking that test
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What happened to Vicky could happen to anyone
Aimee Connolly, CEO and founder of Sculpted by Aimee
Cervical cancer is something that affects so many more people than we realise, so I’m encouraging people to have their screening test and to get screened because ultimately, it saves lives.
Vicky Phelan is one of those names and voices you couldn’t not be impacted by.
What she did was so admirable and so brave.
Her story and her journey, as well as the conversation she started in the midst of being very unwell, are unforgettable.
What happened to Vicky could have happened to any of us. It makes you think that it could be my mum, my sister, or my friend.
Until two or three years ago, I was terrible at putting my health first. Now, I’m in a much better routine of ticking off what I need to book: A cervical screening test, blood tests, and even getting my teeth cleaned. What I’d say to anyone reading this is to do your TLC checklist.
And if you do this annually, it will bring peace of mind. More importantly, it means you are being proactive about your health.
Ultimately, we all need to look after ourselves as best we can.
Aimee Connolly
It's 30 seconds that could change your life
Sarah Breen, co-author of The Complete Aisling series
I’m here to remind you that you need to take control of your health. It’s the best thing you can do for yourself. Vicky made sacrifices in her own life: She had a young family, and she gave up so much time in her final years to advocate for Irish women. It was impossible not to be caught up in her enthusiasm for her work: She was just so tenacious.
I have given birth three times, and I still get nervous before a cervical-screening test.
When the letter comes in the post, I’ll put it to the back of things and say, ‘I’ll deal with that later’. But that attitude is now changing. It’s so important to get it done.
I want to be proactive about my health, because I want to be around for a very long time.
You don’t exactly relish going to the cervical-screening appointment, but I’ve never had a bad experience. I always tell the practitioner that I’m a little nervous, even though I’ve had three vaginal births. But I’ve always been so reassured.
I would go for a screening test before I’d go for an eyebrow wax, because it’s 30 seconds of mild discomfort that could save your life.
Emer McLysaght, co-author of The Complete Aisling series
Sarah and I met Vicky Phelan a few times over the years and were always inspired by her. Even when she was at what must have been one of her lowest ebbs, she was always so positive she kept going.
The fact that she gave up so much time when she had so little time left is what I admire about her most. If she could do that, then why can’t I get up off the couch and do even a small thing to help myself? It makes you think. The best part is that she continues to do that.
There are lots of different excuses and reasons why people might put off screening. I did it myself for ages. I was late getting my first smear test and didn’t do it when I should have. Then I went and finally did it, and it was nothing. There was absolutely nothing to worry about. I think there is a self-care issue in that people are like, ‘Ah, sure, I’m grand. It won’t happen to me.’ But people like Vicky have shown that it could happen to you, so why not get it done, get it over with, and just book it.
I booked my cervical screening smear, which was a bit overdue, this week, because I’m doing this initiative.
Sarah Breen and Emer McLysaght
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We can't let these things go unnoticed anymore
Jacqui Hurley, sports broadcaster
I've always had such admiration for Vicky. I can’t think of a person who had a bigger impact on Irish life than Vicky Phelan. That’s why, when I was asked to be involved in this initiative, it was such a simple ‘Yes’.
Vicky solved what has been Irish women’s problem all along — we can’t just let these things go unnoticed anymore. We can’t just sit and wait for these things to happen to us. It’s our health to protect. She taught us that it’s an empowerment to prioritise our health.
It took someone like her to stand up and change the way we think about ourselves, particularly in the busy lives we all lead. Whether you are a mother, have other responsibilities, or whatever is going on, it’s about stopping and booking that screening or taking that test.
Vicky taught us that it’s about putting ourselves first sometimes and that it’s probably the most important thing we can do.
Vicky was extraordinary in what she did, but she never saw herself that way. She was an ordinary woman doing extraordinary things.
Please book your screening test today.
Jacqui Hurley
Lorraine Walsh
We now have improved screening, get your test
Lorraine Walsh, founding member of patient support group 221+
Cervical cancer is a horrible disease, and it has horrible side effects. Cervical screening is about ensuring a preventable disease can be prevented. The screening programme let Vicky and me down in very different ways, but we always wanted to encourage women to get screening tests, not discourage them.
We didn’t have a very effective screening programme in Ireland before 2018. But we now have an improved screening programme, so it’s crucial that you get out there and take that hour out of your life just to do something for yourself that could actually save your life.
What I’d say to women is that you have to prioritise your health, and if something doesn’t feel right, it’s important to discuss it with your GP or nurse. It’s important to get it checked out.
When thinking about cervical screening, remember the doctors and the nurses don’t care about whether you had a wax last week or not. It doesn’t matter, so prioritise yourself because if you don’t, it may be too late.
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Use the programme that's there for you
Muireann O’Connell, television presenter
Ifeel honoured to have met and spoken with Vicky Phelan as a result of my job.
The overriding thing I took away from those encounters was her belief, both in the importance of the screening programme and encouraging people to go to CervicalCheck.
If just one person sees Vicky’s name today and decides to make that appointment, it’ll be a good day.
Vicky inspired so many because she said it as it was. Through all the pain and cruel injustice, she never seemed to let anger and bitterness overtake her.
Vicky has become almost superhuman in our collective consciousness because of all that she achieved in the too short time she had on this planet.
While she spent so much time educating people on not being afraid to question authority, and taking control of their health, she was also a person who loved a joke, music, and her children.
If you’ve put off your appointment, or perhaps you have a feeling something is different in your body but you’ve convinced yourself you’re overthinking, please go to the doctor.
Not every country has a screening programme. We do. Please make use of it.
Muireann O'Connell
Dr Sumi Dunne.
Don't be scared, testing can be easily accessed
Sumi Dunne, GP Portarlington, Co Laois, and lecturer at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
Vicky singlehandedly pushed to the forefront the importance of getting regular screening, which remains our foremost fight against a devastating disease, together with the advent of the HPV vaccine.
Vicky’s story resonated with many because she was so real. Everything she did was so that nobody else would have the journey she had. Women came forward about their health because of Vicky, and that’s what made her advocacy so amazing.
However, it did something else too. She signposted women to attend their GPs, to check if they were due a cervical screening test, to ask about symptoms related to women’s health and see what we as GPs could do for them.
What I’d say to women is this: Don’t be scared, free cervical screening is easily accessible through your GP. It doesn’t have to be your own GP either — you can go to any registered clinic. Please go and book today. Screening saves lives.
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Read My Lips, Choose Screening
Imet Vicky Phelan on June 21, 2019 at Hook & Ladder Cafe in Castletroy, Limerick, to discuss future projects. It was a blue-skied summer morning and once I saw Vicky’s huge smile — the one that could light up a stadium — I knew it was one of her good days. We ordered breakfast and the first round of tea, and started talking and talking. She was in terrific form, witty and acerbic.
I was aware of other days when she was laid low by her illness. We had first met six months earlier on a damp January day at her home in Limerick to discuss her guest-edited special edition of Feelgood to be published on International Women’s Day, March 8.
Though she was in and out of hospital for a viral infection, she was determined to push through and get the edition out on time. The supplement covered a range of issues related to cervical cancer, from the latest drug therapies to sexual intimacy post-treatment, but she had one key message for readers: Get a smear test.
Feel Good Cover . Picture: Cathal Noonan
For all her problems with CervicalCheck — a false negative reading in 2011 missed early-stage cervical cancer and a three-year delay before being told an audit had found the error — she wanted women to continue to undergo screening as it remains the best way to detect cervical cancer.
The difference in her energy at our midsummer’s day meeting in Castletroy was remarkable. The cutting-edge immunotherapy drug Pembro was working — her tumours had shrunk, and she was feeling much better. The grim vista of only having months to live in April 2018 after winning her case against Clinical Pathology Laboratories had receded. Now she was brimming with life and had a packed diary, which included plans for holidays abroad and at home, a book and a television documentary.
Somewhere between the second and third pot of tea, I suggested our next joint project, inspired by Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust in Britain. Titled ‘Read My Lips’, we would ask high-profile women to wear lipstick and pose in front of the camera to encourage other women to get a cervical screening test.
Don't be scared, testing can be easily accessed
Three hours and more had flown by and it was time to go — she had children to pick up. We decided to return to our plan after the summer holidays when Amelia and Darragh were back at school and she would have more time.
In the intervening months, however, Vicky’s health started to deteriorate once again. The final time we spoke about Read My Lips was in March 2021, following an interview she gave from Maryland, US, for the Irish Examiner’s International Women’s Day seminar.
After the cameras stopped rolling, we chatted freely on the video link about her latest treatment, day-to-day life in the US, and staying in touch with her children. Before signing off, she said she wanted to talk about “our project” when she returned home. But time was not on her side — we never got to have that follow-up conversation.
As the first anniversary of Vicky’s death approached, my Irish Examiner colleagues and I explored the possibility of running the Read My Lips initiative to honour her memory. The response we got from the outset has been nothing short of remarkable. Almost every high-profile woman we asked to attend our video and photo shoot said yes. All wanted to support and continue with Vicky’s call to action: Get your cervical screening test. Within days, sports broadcaster Jacqui Hurley, TV presenter Muireann O’Connell, beauty entrepreneur Aimee Connolly, authors Sarah Breen and Emer McLysaght, lecturer and GP Sumi Dunne and 221+ founding member Lorraine Walsh had signed up.
The shoot happened in an outsized garage-style studio near the Botanic Gardens in Dublin. Run by Heritage, an award-winning creative media group, the day went like clockwork, with each celebrity going through the same schedule, hair, makeup, and styling before recording their script for video and posing for the photographer.
The mood was upbeat throughout the long day and the good vibes were infectious. We were all on a mission — including the production team, many of whom worked pro bono — to support Vicky’s legacy.
Dr Sumi Dunne
Jacqui Hurley
Muireann O'Connell
Lorraine Walsh
Sarah Breen and Emer McLysaght
Aimee Connolly
But every time one of the participants voiced the call to action (“Choose screening — book your cervical screening test today”) a hushed pause followed as we absorbed the life-saving significance of the message.
The Irish Cancer Society has given Read My Lips its support. “It is a fitting tribute to Vicky Phelan on the first anniversary of her death and all the other women who aren’t with us today because of cervical cancer. Despite her own experience, Vicky was a staunch champion of screening and tirelessly encouraged others to take up the offer when it was their turn. It is the promotion of screening that is such an important part of Vicky’s legacy, which will go on to save many lives.”
Vicky was not alone in promoting cervical cancer awareness. Lynsey Bennett, who died aged 34, just weeks before Vicky, and Emma Mhic Mhathúna, who died in 2018, at 37, forfeited their privacy to bring public attention to their misdiagnosis and warn other women about prioritising their health. Members of 221+, set up to support those affected by the CervicalCheck scandal, including Lorraine Walsh, also spoke openly about their experience of cervical cancer. Laura Brennan, who was diagnosed with terminal cervical cancer at 25, devoted the final year of her life to promoting the HPV vaccine — a campaign that saw the uptake in secondary schools soar from 51% to 81% and to over 90% in her home county Clare.
Due to the successful rollout of the vaccine and new HPV testing, Ireland is now one of the first countries in the world to commit to cervical cancer elimination or fewer than four cases diagnosed for every 100,000.
Cervical screening offers women the best chance of early detection. Every year, it identifies and treats precancerous cells in 12,500 women. Many of these women could have developed cervical cancer — some 290 are diagnosed every year — if their rogue cells had not been found and treated in the initial stages.
Vicky wrote in her memoir Overcoming: “If even one young woman had a smear test because she heard me speak, and it helped her to avoid this awful illness, then it would be worthwhile.”
In today’s special Feelgood edition, we hope to do just that in memory of a trailblazing woman who left an extraordinary legacy.
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Design Jim Coughlan/Tiernan King/ Ivan Rodriguez