Vicky Phelan: Timeline of key events in her cancer journey
Vicky Phelan at the launch of 221+ CervicalCheck support group in 2018. Picture: Paul SherwoodÂ
The national cervical screening programme CervicalCheck is set up.
It offers free cervical smear tests to women aged from 25 to 60.
The overall aim of the programme is to reduce the incidence and deaths from cervical cancer in Ireland.
Following the birth of her son Darragh, Vicky Phelan undergoes a routine smear test, which does not identify any abnormalities.
After noticing irregular vaginal bleeding, Vicky sees a doctor, who notices âhigh-grade changesâ and schedules a colposcopy for July 15.
Two days later, she gets a phone call from the hospital, informing her that she has cancer.
Vicky undergoes further tests and an MRI scan, which shows the cancer has spread beyond her cervix.
This means a hysterectomy is no longer an option, and she is instead required to undergo radiation and chemotherapy.
In February, three months after Vicky finished her cancer treatment, she sits across from her oncologist who has her scan results.
Itâs good news, there is no evidence of disease.
Vicky returns home to her family, though she is required to have regular checkups with an oncologist and gynaecologist.
Vicky is waiting to see a consultant again, as part of a routine check-up. The usual internal exam is carried out, and she is referred for a CT scan for completeness. The appointment takes an unusual turn when the consultant tells her that the CervicalCheck screening programme had been in touch.
He says it had carried out an audit on smears of women who had been diagnosed with cervical cancer.
Her smear from 2011 had been reported as normal. However, the consultant says the CervicalCheck audit found it to be an incorrect result.
The audit suggested that the result of the smear was, in fact, in keeping with squamous cell carcinoma.
Had it been identified earlier, the consultant tells her, it may have affected the overall treatment, and likely would have resulted in a hysterectomy instead of the chemo-radiation she underwent.
Vicky undergoes the scheduled CT scan. Her gynaecologist later tells her the news is not good â the cancer has returned. Vicky has a large tumour, almost 10 centimetres, on her para-aortic lymph nodes. She is referred for a PET scan.
On January 12 she is told her diagnosis is terminal and has 12 months to live.
She identifies a drug called Pembrolizumab â Pembro for short â which is available in America but is still not licensed in Ireland for cervical cancer patients.
She applies for a clinical trial involving the drug in Maryland, USA, and sets up a GoFundMe to help with the cost of treatment.
She also learns she could possibly get an oncologist in Ireland to prescribe Pembro for her âoff-labelâ if she applies to the medical board of the hospital.
She gets referred to an oncologist who prescribes the drug and makes the application.
Vicky pursues legal action against the HSE and the US lab, Clinical Pathology Laboratories (CPL), involved in the screening.
She and her solicitor Cian OâCarroll attend a mediation hearing where an agreement is presented to her which includes a confidentiality clause.
She refuses to sign it because she wants other women and their families whoâve been affected by the CervicalCheck audit case to know the truth. As a result, her case goes to court.
During the same month, she is told St Vincentâs Hospital in Dublin has approved her application to receive Pembro.
Three days after her first infusion of the drug, her court case starts on April 19, a quicker than normal turnaround due to her terminal diagnosis.
On April 25, Vicky settles the High Court case against the lab for âŹ2.5m, without admission of liability. Her case against the HSE is struck out.
Dr Gabriel Scally, a distinguished public health doctor from Britain, is appointed by the HSE to conduct a Scoping Inquiry into the issues surrounding the CervicalCheck debacle.
The health minister also announces the setting up of an independent expert review panel, with the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in Britain checking the smear test history of women who participated in CervicalCheck and later developed cervical cancer, but whose smears were not examined in the initial audit.
A support group, 221+, for the women affected by the CervicalCheck scandal is formed by Vicky Phelan, Steven Teap, and Lorraine Walsh.
The name of the group represents the number of affected women. It campaigns for the women and families adversely affected by the screening programme.
The long-awaited scoping inquiry report into the CervicalCheck programme by Dr Scally is published.
It concludes that âa whole-system failureâ meant women were not told about subsequent audits which showed their past smear tests were incorrect.
âIt is clear that there are also serious gaps in the range of expertise of professional and managerial staff directly engaged in the operation of CervicalCheck,â the final report states.
âThere are, in addition, substantial weaknesses, indeed absences, of proper professional advisory structures.â
Vicky is the guest editor of the Irish Examinerâs weekly health and lifestyle magazine, Feelgood.
She undertakes the opportunity to mark International Womenâs Day, and to spread the message of the importance of getting a five-minute smear test to detect the disease at the earliest possible stage.
Then Taoiseach Leo Varadkar makes a formal State apology in the DĂĄil to the women affected by the CervicalCheck failures.
âTodayâs apology is offered to all the people the State let down. And to the families who paid the price for those failings,â he says.
âA broken service, broken promises, broken lives â a debacle that left a country heartbroken. A system that was doomed to fail.â
Vicky travels to Maryland, USA, in January to join a clinical trial of an experimental immunotherapy drug, similar to Pembro, which had successfully shrunk some of her tumours in 2018.
Itâs hoped that the treatment would be more advanced than Pembro. The clinical trial appears to be going well, but Vicky also suffered some side effects.
During the summer itâs decided the treatment is not as effective as had been hoped, with Vicky deciding to look into proton beam therapy instead.
However, in October, she reports thereâs been bad news following scans.
She has developed new tumours â on her neck and bowel â and is no longer eligible for the proton beam treatment.
She returns home to Ireland for palliative treatment.
During a powerful interview on the Late Late Show, Vicky opens up about her difficult decision to cease chemotherapy and begin palliative care treatment.
She says she came to the difficult decision following a lengthy with her oncologist.
âI think he was hoping I'd have a few more sessions [of chemotherapy] and I just said no.
"I'm not doing this to my kids. I'm not doing this to myself," she tells host Ryan Tubridy.
In March, Vicky announces that she will join veteran broadcaster Charlie Bird's 'Climb with Charlie' event at Croagh Patrick in Co Mayo.
Unfortunately, she is forced to pull out of the event due to illness. Some of her family members and friends attend on her behalf.
Mr Bird subsequently dedicates his climb to Ms Phelan and others, lighting a candle on the top of the mountain for her.
A documentary about Vicky is released, portraying an intimate journey into the Kilkenny nativeâs fight to expose the truth. It also delves into her personal fight to extend her life.
To mark the launch of the film, an image of Vicky is projected onto the front of the General Post Office in Dublin.
In October, Vicky's fellow CervicaCheck campaigner Lynsey Bennett passes away aged 34.
In a moving tribute, Vicky says Lynsey had "an amazing will to live which no doubt kept her alive for as long as she did beyond the 6 month prognosis that she was given.
"Her daughters were able to get some extra precious time to spend with their Mam and make some more memories that they will treasure."
It is announced that Vicky has died, aged 48.
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