Lord of the Dance
Cervical cancer campaigner Vicky Phelan dies
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Cervical cancer campaigner Vicky Phelan dies

CervicalCheck cancer campaigner Vicky Phelan has died following a years-long battle with illness as a result of a wrong reading of a smear check result.

She died in the early hours of this morning at Milford Hospice in Limerick.

Ms Phelan was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2014, three years after a smear test which showed no abnormalities.

However, an internal CervicalCheck audit found the original smear check result to be wrong.

In April 2018, she settled a High Court action for €2.5m with Clinical Pathology Labs US, without admission of liability.

She travelled on a number of occasions to the US for treatment, but returned home to Ireland in October after the treatment stopped working.

Her campaigning led to the Scally Independent investigation and 2018 report into the controversy.

It also led to the establishment of the 221+ support group and a State apology.

She was named as one of the BBC's 100 women in 2018.

The mother-of-two was awarded the Freedom of Limerick earlier this year,  and a documentary focusing on the life of the 48-year-old, entitled Vicky, was screened in cinemas recently.