Husband pays tribute to cervical cancer victim Irene Teap on fifth anniversary

Stephen Teap and his wife Irene lived in Carrigaline, Co Cork; she died on July 26, 2017. Picture: Dan Linehan

A father of two whose 35-year-old wife died of cancer arising out of deficiencies in the Cervical Check programme has paid tribute to her on the fifth anniversary of her passing.

Irene Teap, who lived in Carrigaline, Co Cork died on July 26, 2017. At the time of her death her children with husband Stephen, Oscar and Noah, were aged just four and two. 

She was diagnosed with Stage two cancer in 2015, following two false negative smear tests in 2010 and 2013.

Since the death of Irene, Stephen has fought for accountability and improvements within the system in Ireland.

In a post on social media, Mr Teap said that Irene is hugely missed by all those whose lives she touched.

"Another year gone, another 12 months of memories and milestones missed."

It's difficult to get my head around that today is Irene's 5th anniversary since she passed, some days it feels like a lifetime ago and other days it feels like she only left us yesterday.

"Irene is missed as much today as she was the first time she left us, she is always in our thoughts and memories daily. 

"Anyways, thank you as always to our friends who are here for us and for your kind messages today. Stephen, Oscar and Noah."

Prior to her death Irene penned a blog entitled "Fierce and Fighting". 

In her last blog entry two months before she died she wrote of bringing her two young children Oscar and Noah on a family trip to Disneyland.

In the entry she said the trip gave her memories and that she lost track of the amount of times her eyes filled up with tears at watching the boys beaming and laughing and having fun. 

She described their smiling faces as "the very best medicine".

Stephen Teap lost his wife Irene to cervical cancer in 2017, leaving behind two sons, Oscar and Noah. Picture: Stephen Teap twitter

Mr Teap previously told the Dáil Public Accounts Committee that Irene would have gone public if she had received information about her incorrect smear tests before she died.

He said his beloved wife "would have wanted to know" the truth, whether she found out three weeks or three minutes before she passed away.

Meanwhile, in May of this year Mr Teap launched a High Court legal action against two laboratories and the HSE.

He is suing over the alleged misreporting of two of his wife’s smear slides. His young sons have also lodged claims for nervous shock arising out of the death of their mother.

They have sued the HSE and American laboratory Clinical Pathology Laboratories (CPL) with offices in Austin, Texas and MedLab Pathology Ltd with offices at Sandyford Business Park, Dublin.

The case is expected to be heard in December of this year.