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20th Feb 2019

Vicky Phelan to pull back from Cervical Check campaigning to prioritise ‘her health and family’

Cathy Donohue

Vicky Phelan has said she will pull back from Cervical Check campaigning to prioritise ‘her health and family’.

The mum of two has been one of the leading voices in the wake of the Cervical Check Scandal, calling for accountability and also helping to establish the 221+ Cervical Check Patient Support Group.

In a series of tweets earlier today, she explained that she was recently hospitalised with an infection and as a result, she’s taking a step back.

Reassuring her Twitter followers that the cancer has not spread, Vicky went on to say that the time in hospital taught her some important lessons.

From now on, she will be focusing on her health and family and prioritising them above all else.

Although Vicky will still use her voice to the campaign, she will be doing so on her own terms.

Lat year, Vicky played a huge part in exposing the scandal that hundreds of women in Ireland received incorrect smear results. She was also instrumental in the decision to make Pembro, an immunotherapy drug, available to all suitable patients with cervical cancer.

She became a public figure almost overnight after settling a High Court case against the HSE and one of the laboratories used, Clinical Pathology Laboratories (CPL).

Vicky has received major accolades since, including an honorary doctorate from the University of Limerick.