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Downloaded from
YTS.MX

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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

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My mommy has cancer,

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and she won't die.

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I love the sea.

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This is where
my ashes will be scattered.

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Patients tests are being sent
out to the country to be dealt with

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by a questionable entity abroad.

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Two American labs are coming
under scrutiny because of

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faulty cancer tests in Ireland.

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Hundreds of women were
told they tested negative, only to

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find out years later
they had cancer all along.

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and I shudder to think of the
long-term consequences.

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I suppose I have had extraordinary
challenges even before the cancer
diagnosis.

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But I have to think that this is what
has prepared me

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for this fight.

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My daughter Amelia was born with
congenital toxoplasmosis

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and will be on medication
for the rest of her life.

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(chatter)

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Then at seven years old, Amelia had a
horrific accident at home,

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and suffered third-degree
burns all over

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her little body.

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A car accident in France left me with
broken bones all over my body.

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My friend died,

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another one of my friends
was paralyzed.

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It was horrendous,

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it was an awful accident.

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And I just thought, there
can't be a god.

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And I really never recovered
from that from the point of

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view of religion.

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I just don't believe
in a god I suppose.

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What I do believe in is, what goes
around comes around.

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If you do good, you get good back in
return.

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And that's the way I've
tried to live my life.

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I will start at the beginning,
back in 2014.

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I was having sex with
my husband and I bled,

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and I thought, this isn't right.

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Never happened before,

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and, you know, it was really red.

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And I thought, Jesus, you know, it
frightened the

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life out of me, to be honest.

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And actually, while I
was having the smear

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the nurse even, you know,
kind of made a face.

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I knew by looking at her that she
knew this wasn't right

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because, again, when she did

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the smear and took the sample, I
bled.

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So she said to me at that stage,
"Hmm... I don't like the

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look of that now, Vicky."

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she said I'm going to send it off and
mark it urgent.

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So my GP rang me anyway
and told me the results were back.

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And she said that they were very high
grade.

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She said what happens now, Vicky,
is I've sent an urgent referral

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for you said to have
a colposcopy done.

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I got the call...

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two days later, on Thursday
17th of July,

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which is ingrained in
my brain forever.

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And basically, he told me, "I'm
sorry, Vicky

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but you have cancer."

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I had a cervical smear
test done in 2011,

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and my test results were
wrongly reported as normal.

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In 2014, I developed cervical cancer.

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I went through an aggressive
regime of chemotherapy and radiation,

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and was eventually told
that there was no evidence

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of disease in my body.

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In November 2017, I was told that my
cancer was back.

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She rang me and she said,
"Susan, they found something."

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She said, "I'm going to go to the
hospital,

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and would you meet me
me for lunch?"

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I said no way.
I said you're coming up.

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You're coming up the night
before,

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and we are going together.

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You know? And she said, I
don't want to tell anybody,

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it's so close to Christmas.
I said, "Fine.

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We'll go together."

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And I sat in that place
where I sat with her...

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a couple of years previous.

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And what was killing me, they
recognized her.

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I'll never forget that day, like...

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I went in there on my
own, and she said to me...

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she said, "Okay, Vicky, look,
unfortunately

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you know, your cancer is back."

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Obviously, she said, but it's
far worse than, you know...

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than we thought.

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And I said, but you told me
in December, I said, when I

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spoke to you on the
phone that, you know, you'd be

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talking to me now with a
treatment plan and she said,

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"Well, yeah

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She said, but I wasn't going to
give you this news over

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the phone, you know? So that's why
I wanted to bring you in.

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And I said, I mean, I was just
so shocked, to be honest

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I said well, how bad?

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How bad is this?

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and she said... "You've got a
ten-centimeter tumor."

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I said, "What?!"

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So I said, what
are you telling me then?

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I said, there must be something
that you can do for me

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And she said, "Chemotherapy.

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That's it."

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I said, and are we talking
about chemotherapy now...

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I said, "Is there a chance?

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What are my odds?" Basically.

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"Is this still something that I can,

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you know, survive?"

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And she said, "No."

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And I said,

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"Palliative, are you talking
about palliative care?"

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And she said, "Yeah."

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Palliative chemotherapy was not
an option for me.

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I wanted more.

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At 43, I was told to go home
and get my affairs in order.

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She said, "You have 6 to
12 months to live."

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and when she said 6 to 12 months, she
clarified,

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if I took took the treatment,
I'd have 12 months.

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If I refused or didn't go on
the palliative chemotherapy,

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I'd be dead in six.

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So I went into this bathroom
and I just cried my eyes out

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for like 20 minutes.

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I just had to get it out

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got it out, pulled myself
together,

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splashed some water, thank God,
had no makeup on,

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or the mascara would have
been running everywhere.

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But I remember going back out
to my mother and Amelia in the

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waiting room and...
Mam knew, Mam knew.

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She just looked at my face,

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and I just looked at her and I just
went...

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shook my head like that.

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I said, "Come on, let's go."

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So we just kind
of chit chatted, you know,

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in the car on the way
home with Amelia in the back,

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and sent her up to our room or
something when we got home.

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I just told Mam then. And sure...
God it was just...

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Oh I will never forget it,

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It was horrendous, it was worse
than telling her the first time,

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to be honest, you know?

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because at that point I really didn't
know what to do, you know?

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Because first time round,

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when you're told you've
got cancer, you trust...

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you trust that they know what
they're doing,

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and everything is
going to be okay.

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But then I knew, that day I knew.
I just thought, "Here I am,

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you know, less than four years
later with a ten-centimeter tumor,

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worse than before."

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For me, it was that day
that I decided

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I'm taking back
control of this.

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And that was the
day I went and started

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researching everything.

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So this is my medical file.

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This is when I got all the
information back from

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copies from my solicitor that he got
and then the one I requested

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myself from the hospital.

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So there's various pieces in
here. And then here,

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the one that started it
all off, actually.

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That's right here.

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So I was having
a biopsy done and basically,

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I was bored. So I started looking
through my file,

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and found this.

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So this is a prior smear.

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Before I was diagnosed the 24th of
May 2011, my son was

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barely four months old and the
original result was NAD,

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which means no abnormality
detected.

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And then when they reviewed it
on the audit, it says,

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"Query squamous cell carcinoma."

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Squamous cell carcinoma is
cancer, like it's cancer.

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It's not pre-cancer.

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It's not CIN1, CIN2,
CIN3, It's cancer.

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And the minute I saw that,
I just said to my mother,

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"You know, Mam, you know,
I had cancer in 2011."

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I couldn't believe this.

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And I kept reading it
and rereading it.

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But down here I work
in administration,

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you know, in education.

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I've done plenty mail mergers
in my life to know

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two of two means, page two of two.

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So I knew there was a page
missing,

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so I was going through my file,
going, "Where's this page one?"

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You know?

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And my mother said, "Sure, it's
probably just a cover page."

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And I said, "Yeah, but why is it
missing?

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And who is it to
and when?"

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And that was when I
realised I need help with this,

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and two weeks later I was in Cian
O'Carroll's office in Cashel.

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Normally, American screening is
done using

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a combination of automated screening
and a manual review.

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So automated screening involves
a computer-assisted process and...

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something akin to face
recognition software is used to

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identify through a microscope
with a computer looking at it,

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identify 22 fields of view
which are then presented to the

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screener to see are there
abnormalities present?

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If there are no
abnormalities present, then the

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entire slide is subjected to a manual
review,

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where eye to microscope
eyepiece, the laboratory scientist,

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or cytotechnologist, screens the
entire slide quickly over the course

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of 90 seconds.

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It can take longer, but it's
supposed to take at

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least 90 seconds.

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That process costs more,

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and I understand it
costs significantly more.

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For one-third of the price that
it would cost in Ireland.

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00:15:06,680 --> 00:15:09,639
Not a third less, one-third
of the price.

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In Vicky's case,

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I put the slide under the microscope,
and it's almost like

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the cells are crying out to say,
"Here I am abnormal."

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If you can see the cells
at a low power, then, you know,

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nobody should be
really missing them.

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And that was what I discovered
in that one particular slide.

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They were plentiful.

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And if one were to take
a photograph of that,

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then you would say it looked like
a map with lots of dots on it.

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where the dot is against an abnormal
group.

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So there were so many here

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that I had to use the
word plentiful

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in Vicky's case.

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00:15:47,319 --> 00:15:49,680
# (music)

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I had an appointment two weeks later,

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00:15:53,400 --> 00:15:55,279
with the medical oncologist,

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00:15:55,319 --> 00:15:57,040
and he explained it all,

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00:15:57,080 --> 00:15:59,519
and told me I'd be on chemotherapy
for five months,

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00:15:59,559 --> 00:16:01,080
and it was three different
types of drugs,

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00:16:01,120 --> 00:16:02,839
and the side effects were worse
than what I had had

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00:16:02,919 --> 00:16:03,919
first time around.

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00:16:03,959 --> 00:16:06,559
I'd lose my hair. Never lost my hair
the first time around.

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00:16:06,639 --> 00:16:10,000
And, you know, people
I think women understand this

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00:16:10,040 --> 00:16:11,720
some people would say, what's the big
deal?

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00:16:11,760 --> 00:16:14,400
It's only hair. But for a woman,

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00:16:14,440 --> 00:16:16,080
hair is a big thing, you know?

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00:16:16,160 --> 00:16:19,199
And a little boy, he was three and he
loved my hair.

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00:16:19,239 --> 00:16:21,000
And I said, I'm
not losing this fucking hair.

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00:16:21,040 --> 00:16:22,040
I'm just not.

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00:16:22,120 --> 00:16:24,080
Okay, so let me just recap here.

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00:16:24,120 --> 00:16:26,319
I said I'd be on chemotherapy
for five months,

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00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:28,959
and I'm going to be horrendously
sick.

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00:16:29,040 --> 00:16:30,400
I'm going to lose all my hair.

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00:16:30,919 --> 00:16:33,360
I said, and I'll have no
quality of life for five months.

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00:16:33,599 --> 00:16:35,080
So when I get over the effects,

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00:16:35,120 --> 00:16:38,120
and because I'd done it once before,
I knew how long it took.

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00:16:38,160 --> 00:16:39,879
It took me about three months,
the last time to get

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00:16:39,919 --> 00:16:41,120
over the effects.

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00:16:41,680 --> 00:16:44,000
I said, then, really,
I've got six months.

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00:16:44,319 --> 00:16:46,040
I said, I'm not gaining
anything here.

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00:16:46,080 --> 00:16:47,319
If I don't take your treatment,

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00:16:47,360 --> 00:16:49,360
I'm actually feeling
good at the moment,

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00:16:49,400 --> 00:16:51,000
Ive 6 months anyway,

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00:16:52,519 --> 00:16:53,519
you know?

244
00:16:53,680 --> 00:16:57,480
And he said, "Yes, but you know, if
you're  on no treatment,

245
00:16:57,519 --> 00:16:59,760
that tumor is going to keep
growing.

246
00:16:59,839 --> 00:17:01,599
And I said yes,

247
00:17:01,680 --> 00:17:02,680
I said I know that.

248
00:17:02,720 --> 00:17:05,720
But that's why I'm asking you
about alternative options.

249
00:17:08,199 --> 00:17:09,440
Now the clock was ticking.

250
00:17:10,519 --> 00:17:13,720
I had six months to live,
and I was on my own.

251
00:17:15,440 --> 00:17:19,279
I had to research treatments
myself to help me stay alive.

252
00:17:21,760 --> 00:17:24,720
You have all of these people trying
to get on to clinical trials

253
00:17:24,800 --> 00:17:27,639
and all these scientists
looking to get people

254
00:17:27,760 --> 00:17:28,959
for clinical trials.
Yeah.

255
00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:30,519
So it was easy enough, was it?

256
00:17:30,800 --> 00:17:31,800
It can be easy.

257
00:17:31,839 --> 00:17:34,800
The problem is they only take
small numbers on these trials.

258
00:17:35,199 --> 00:17:37,120
The particular trial I'm looking at..

259
00:17:37,160 --> 00:17:38,440
I mean, I am looking at a lot
of trials,

260
00:17:38,480 --> 00:17:40,000
because I can't put all
my eggs in one basket.

261
00:17:40,040 --> 00:17:42,000
But the particular trial
I'm looking at only takes one

262
00:17:42,040 --> 00:17:43,040
patient per month.

263
00:17:43,279 --> 00:17:44,440
You know, and I've been
told by the nurse

264
00:17:44,480 --> 00:17:47,120
I'm in touch with over there
that it'll be several months.

265
00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:52,639
Peter got in touch with me after his
mum heard me on the Ray Darcy show

266
00:17:52,680 --> 00:17:56,279
because I had been campaigning to get
on to a clinical trial

267
00:17:56,319 --> 00:17:59,800
that I had researched myself over in
Maryland, in the States.

268
00:17:59,919 --> 00:18:03,239
And Peter, his wife,
had actually been on the very

269
00:18:03,279 --> 00:18:05,120
same trial that I
was trying to get onto.

270
00:18:07,959 --> 00:18:11,480
This photo was taken on the 1st
of June 2016,

271
00:18:11,519 --> 00:18:15,040
and was three days
after Jessica's communion.

272
00:18:15,080 --> 00:18:17,680
So that's Jessica there, and we
were over in the park.

273
00:18:17,720 --> 00:18:21,120
It was a lovely sunny day,
but the next day, Thursday,

274
00:18:21,160 --> 00:18:24,599
the 2nd of June, Emma started
her chemotherapy

275
00:18:24,639 --> 00:18:26,080
in St James' Hospital.

276
00:18:26,120 --> 00:18:30,160
So she had beautiful... she
had a mane of hair, beautiful,

277
00:18:30,199 --> 00:18:31,199
beautiful hair.

278
00:18:31,239 --> 00:18:32,559
She knew what was going
to get shaved.

279
00:18:32,639 --> 00:18:34,599
So she said, I
better get a family photo.

280
00:18:34,720 --> 00:18:38,239
But it was the last
family photo, family...

281
00:18:39,519 --> 00:18:40,879
yeah, photo that we ever
got done.

282
00:18:41,440 --> 00:18:43,440
And they told me it would take
about four weeks because they

283
00:18:43,480 --> 00:18:45,879
have to grow this culture,
you know, bloods or whatever.

284
00:18:47,279 --> 00:18:49,080
And was waiting and
waiting and waiting.

285
00:18:49,120 --> 00:18:52,199
And at that point when what month
were we? That was about March.

286
00:18:52,239 --> 00:18:53,839
It was March when we found out
and I was starting to get

287
00:18:53,919 --> 00:18:54,959
really ill at that point.

288
00:18:55,000 --> 00:18:57,440
I was in bed a lot,
and in a lot of pain.

289
00:18:57,919 --> 00:18:59,040
And I remember getting the
email,

290
00:18:59,080 --> 00:19:00,760
and I was actually
lying in bed.

291
00:19:00,800 --> 00:19:02,319
And I remember...

292
00:19:02,360 --> 00:19:04,599
I don't think I
even finished the email...

293
00:19:04,639 --> 00:19:06,559
and I started....

294
00:19:06,599 --> 00:19:08,040
hegging them, you
know, that kind of way?

295
00:19:08,080 --> 00:19:09,400
You just crying and
you can't stop.

296
00:19:10,080 --> 00:19:13,000
Thank God the kids were in
school, and Jim came upstairs.

297
00:19:13,360 --> 00:19:15,319
just to check on me, 'cause I wasn't
well that day.

298
00:19:15,400 --> 00:19:18,160
I was really feeling unwell and
he came in and saw me,

299
00:19:18,239 --> 00:19:20,199
obviously, and I'm quite
a strong person.

300
00:19:20,239 --> 00:19:23,040
I don't cry too often,
but I really couldn't stop.

301
00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:26,639
And he came in and he knew,
because we were waiting,

302
00:19:26,720 --> 00:19:28,559
you know, he knew we were
waiting for this result.

303
00:19:28,919 --> 00:19:29,919
And he just looked at me.

304
00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:31,120
He said, "Oh, God."

305
00:19:31,160 --> 00:19:34,000
I said, "Yeah, that's it.

306
00:19:34,080 --> 00:19:36,400
We're out. That's it.

307
00:19:36,440 --> 00:19:38,959
You know, I'm not eligible
for the trial."

308
00:19:39,800 --> 00:19:42,440
And he just collapsed,
collapsed onto his knees.

309
00:19:42,519 --> 00:19:44,760
And we were there for
about an hour.

310
00:19:44,800 --> 00:19:46,360
I didn't know what to do, you know?

311
00:19:47,519 --> 00:19:49,319
And he said, "What are we going
to do now, Vicky?" and I said,

312
00:19:49,360 --> 00:19:50,360
"I don't know."

313
00:19:50,440 --> 00:19:52,120
That was it, the last kind of hope.
Last blow. Yeah.

314
00:19:52,360 --> 00:19:54,919
The last hope of getting
onto one.

315
00:19:55,440 --> 00:19:58,199
We didn't know much about
pembrolizumab

316
00:19:58,239 --> 00:20:00,279
in this county at that stage.

317
00:20:01,480 --> 00:20:04,400
We thought we had to go to America.
Yeah. Yeah.

318
00:20:05,440 --> 00:20:08,000
That day was... oh God, I'll
never forget it.

319
00:20:08,839 --> 00:20:09,839
Thank god the kids were in school,

320
00:20:09,879 --> 00:20:11,199
weren't they?

321
00:20:11,919 --> 00:20:14,440
If you were successful in the
initial part of the trial,

322
00:20:14,800 --> 00:20:17,919
they looked at giving
you a PD-L1 inhibitor,

323
00:20:17,959 --> 00:20:20,080
a pembrolizumab drug.

324
00:20:20,480 --> 00:20:22,760
And so that was probably the
first time I kind of had

325
00:20:22,839 --> 00:20:23,839
come across it.

326
00:20:23,919 --> 00:20:29,599
And then I investigated all
sorts of other types

327
00:20:29,680 --> 00:20:31,360
of immunotherapy drugs.

328
00:20:31,720 --> 00:20:34,080
But pembrolizumab was
coming out strong.

329
00:20:34,120 --> 00:20:37,120
Peter mentioned that it was a
drug that may work for me.

330
00:20:37,160 --> 00:20:39,879
So pembrolizumab was one part of
the clinical trial

331
00:20:39,919 --> 00:20:42,000
that I wasn't eligible for
in Maryland.

332
00:20:42,639 --> 00:20:44,639
I started looking at
pembrolizumab and realised,

333
00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:48,040
"Well, Merck, Sharp and Daum are
the company who make this drug.

334
00:20:48,080 --> 00:20:49,080
They're based in Ireland.

335
00:20:49,120 --> 00:20:50,519
Surely people in Ireland...

336
00:20:50,559 --> 00:20:52,080
there must be people in
Ireland on this."

337
00:20:52,599 --> 00:20:55,879
That's when I started looking
at that as an option.

338
00:20:56,559 --> 00:20:59,480
I was just very lucky that my
neighbor knows somebody who

339
00:20:59,559 --> 00:21:02,120
works very high up
in Merck, not in Oncology,

340
00:21:02,199 --> 00:21:03,199
in a different area.

341
00:21:03,239 --> 00:21:05,800
But he got me on to somebody
who does work there, got their

342
00:21:05,919 --> 00:21:08,680
contact details, and I bombard
them and started asking,

343
00:21:08,800 --> 00:21:10,000
"How do I get onto this drug?"

344
00:21:11,040 --> 00:21:14,120
She had come with the results
of the PD-L1 assay,

345
00:21:14,199 --> 00:21:17,919
which suggested that
she might benefit from this drug.

346
00:21:18,319 --> 00:21:19,760
So I had discussed it with her.

347
00:21:19,959 --> 00:21:23,199
We had looked at ways of
getting her the drug initially

348
00:21:23,279 --> 00:21:29,319
on study, and she, through her
own research, had sought out

349
00:21:29,440 --> 00:21:31,120
options where that
might be available.

350
00:21:31,839 --> 00:21:34,239
It didn't look like there was a
study option open to her.

351
00:21:34,559 --> 00:21:35,559
So I went then...

352
00:21:35,680 --> 00:21:40,279
I went into looking as to how I
might get the drug for her.

353
00:21:40,959 --> 00:21:46,239
If you have a situation where a
plaintiff has a very limited

354
00:21:47,199 --> 00:21:50,919
life expectancy, well,
then there is a system in place

355
00:21:51,040 --> 00:21:52,839
where you can inform the court of
that,

356
00:21:52,879 --> 00:21:54,239
and you get priority treatment.

357
00:21:54,639 --> 00:21:57,760
And the court system works
extremely well, particularly in

358
00:21:57,800 --> 00:21:58,800
those urgent cases.

359
00:21:59,519 --> 00:22:02,680
The week before the hearing, we had a
mediation hearing.

360
00:22:02,800 --> 00:22:04,400
Okay, so this was
on the 9th of April.

361
00:22:05,120 --> 00:22:07,199
You've got these three rooms.
Okay?

362
00:22:07,239 --> 00:22:08,760
So it's like a negotiation.

363
00:22:08,800 --> 00:22:11,639
So we were in one room with my two
solicitors,

364
00:22:11,680 --> 00:22:13,160
and our two barristers.

365
00:22:13,599 --> 00:22:16,120
Then there was another
room because I was
suing

366
00:22:16,239 --> 00:22:17,680
both the HSE and the lab

367
00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:20,599
So the HSE and all their
solicitors and barristers were

368
00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:22,839
in another room. And then there was
the labs,

369
00:22:22,879 --> 00:22:24,720
solicitors and barristers in
another room,

370
00:22:24,760 --> 00:22:26,559
and then there was this mediator
going in

371
00:22:26,639 --> 00:22:29,360
between the three trying to,
you know, find some way

372
00:22:29,440 --> 00:22:31,120
to settle this.

373
00:22:31,720 --> 00:22:34,800
So basically, this was the
first attempt that they made

374
00:22:35,040 --> 00:22:39,680
to gag me. Okay. So I was ill.
I was in pain.

375
00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:41,000
I mean, at that stage,
I was going round...

376
00:22:41,080 --> 00:22:42,080
Cian was laughing at me.

377
00:22:42,120 --> 00:22:43,360
I was going with this hot
water bottle, you know,

378
00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:45,040
I was eating painkillers.

379
00:22:45,440 --> 00:22:47,919
And I had this hot water bottle
constantly on my back for

380
00:22:47,959 --> 00:22:50,319
the pain, you know? And I wouldn't be
able to sit for long,

381
00:22:50,360 --> 00:22:53,160
so I'd sit for a while and then I'd
have to kind of either lie off or,

382
00:22:53,199 --> 00:22:55,360
you know, and we were there for
probably about 4 hours

383
00:22:55,440 --> 00:22:58,720
and we were already after traveling
on the train to get there.

384
00:22:58,760 --> 00:22:59,760
And it was uncomfortable.

385
00:22:59,800 --> 00:23:03,800
So, you know, I was really,
really ill and they knew this.

386
00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:05,919
There was bit of negotiation
going on.

387
00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:08,000
And I remember going in
that morning, Cian came down,

388
00:23:08,080 --> 00:23:13,400
and he said, "Look, they will
offer you a settlement, but it

389
00:23:13,480 --> 00:23:16,760
is conditional on you signing
a non-disclosure agreement."

390
00:23:16,800 --> 00:23:18,639
And straightaway I said,
"Absolutely not."

391
00:23:19,400 --> 00:23:20,800
And he said, "Are
you sure about that?"

392
00:23:20,879 --> 00:23:22,199
And I said, "Absolutely."

393
00:23:22,239 --> 00:23:23,519
I don't even have to
think about it.

394
00:23:23,919 --> 00:23:26,279
When Vicky approached us,
she had a sense that there were

395
00:23:26,319 --> 00:23:27,319
other people involved.

396
00:23:27,639 --> 00:23:31,519
We later got documentation
which gave us an idea that

397
00:23:31,599 --> 00:23:37,519
there were 15 people involved
in one batch from this review.

398
00:23:37,760 --> 00:23:40,919
And that gave us a sense that
there were other batches from

399
00:23:40,959 --> 00:23:44,319
perhaps other geographic
regions within the country and

400
00:23:44,400 --> 00:23:47,559
maybe even other years or other
periods from the review.

401
00:23:47,720 --> 00:23:50,080
But we didn't know how many
were involved at that stage.

402
00:23:50,319 --> 00:23:52,680
But from the very
first meeting, yeah, Vicky made

403
00:23:52,720 --> 00:23:55,760
it absolutely clear that there
would be no

404
00:23:56,080 --> 00:23:57,760
agreements to confidentiality.

405
00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:00,160
I knew at that point there were
other women that were in the

406
00:24:00,239 --> 00:24:02,319
same boat as me who were
clueless.

407
00:24:02,360 --> 00:24:04,760
Out there at home not
knowing this was going on.

408
00:24:04,959 --> 00:24:07,239
And I thought I could
not I just couldn't, you know,

409
00:24:07,360 --> 00:24:08,360
stand over that.

410
00:24:08,639 --> 00:24:09,639
# (music)

411
00:24:16,120 --> 00:24:18,839
So to think that, you know,
the following week I'd have to

412
00:24:18,879 --> 00:24:21,639
go up and stand and,
you know, give evidence

413
00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:22,760
in a trial.

414
00:24:22,800 --> 00:24:24,760
I mean, I never really thought
it would get to that point.

415
00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:33,440
So I was progressively getting
worse even in that week,

416
00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:35,440
and the following Monday.

417
00:24:35,599 --> 00:24:37,000
And at that stage,
you know, I still

418
00:24:37,040 --> 00:24:38,120
hadn't started treatment.

419
00:24:38,160 --> 00:24:40,760
You know, I was still waiting
to get the go... the green light,

420
00:24:40,800 --> 00:24:43,440
the go-ahead to start on
this immunotherapy drug.

421
00:24:44,400 --> 00:24:48,239
It was the hospital weren't
willing to sign off on me

422
00:24:48,319 --> 00:24:51,160
starting on this drug because I
was risk it's all risk

423
00:24:51,279 --> 00:24:52,599
risk assessment,
risk insurance.

424
00:24:53,199 --> 00:24:54,519
And I said,
"I'll sign anything."

425
00:24:54,559 --> 00:24:55,720
I said, "I'll sign
whatever they want."

426
00:24:55,839 --> 00:24:57,160
I said, "I won't
even bloody well read it."

427
00:24:57,360 --> 00:24:59,720
I said, "I don't have
an option at the moment.

428
00:24:59,760 --> 00:25:01,400
If I don't go
on this drug, I'm dead.

429
00:25:01,519 --> 00:25:02,519
That's it."

430
00:25:02,559 --> 00:25:06,080
So, you know, when he pushed it
then with the the CEO of

431
00:25:06,160 --> 00:25:08,160
the hospital, they eventually
gave in and on the

432
00:25:08,199 --> 00:25:09,559
Monday I started.

433
00:25:10,040 --> 00:25:13,360
So the Monday was the
16th of April.

434
00:25:13,440 --> 00:25:16,959
And I was up on that stand
that Thursday, 19th of April.

435
00:25:17,239 --> 00:25:19,120
And I'm telling you, at that Monday,

436
00:25:19,160 --> 00:25:21,360
when I got the first infusion of
the drug,

437
00:25:21,400 --> 00:25:23,239
I had such a severe reaction to it.

438
00:25:23,319 --> 00:25:25,680
You know, we put in
a night from hell at home.

439
00:25:27,440 --> 00:25:32,120
It was like the worst kind of
one of the worst days

440
00:25:32,160 --> 00:25:33,319
of chemo. It was like that.

441
00:25:33,360 --> 00:25:36,639
It was literally my
body was rejecting this drug.

442
00:25:36,760 --> 00:25:39,279
Jim said to me, you
can't go to court on Thursday.

443
00:25:39,360 --> 00:25:40,360
You just can't.

444
00:25:40,400 --> 00:25:41,400
He said, look at you.

445
00:25:41,440 --> 00:25:43,000
He said that you can't even get
out of the bloody chair.

446
00:25:43,720 --> 00:25:46,720
And on Tuesday I said, "Yeah,
no, I think you're right."

447
00:25:46,959 --> 00:25:50,879
And I rang Cian and I said,
"Look, I'm just... I'm I can't."

448
00:25:51,319 --> 00:25:54,080
And I suppose, what drove me was,

449
00:25:54,120 --> 00:25:56,080
I thought its one day I only have to
do this for one day,

450
00:25:56,120 --> 00:25:57,279
I don't have to go back up
again.

451
00:25:57,319 --> 00:25:58,360
And that's what he said to me,

452
00:25:58,480 --> 00:26:00,000
"It's only one day Vicky
if you can just come up..."

453
00:26:00,080 --> 00:26:01,839
He said, "You know, we can put you
up, do whatever we have to,

454
00:26:01,879 --> 00:26:03,360
take loads of breaks."

455
00:26:03,440 --> 00:26:06,559
He said, "It's one day if you
can just, you know, do it."

456
00:26:06,720 --> 00:26:08,160
By the time we
got to the trial,

457
00:26:10,319 --> 00:26:11,440
she was a very sick woman.

458
00:26:11,919 --> 00:26:15,120
It was obvious that she was in
a huge amount of pain.

459
00:26:15,639 --> 00:26:20,080
Her mobility was profoundly
affected by that,

460
00:26:20,120 --> 00:26:23,480
and she was just battling
through it.

461
00:26:24,239 --> 00:26:28,319
On the Wednesday, felt a bit
better, and I thought maybe.

462
00:26:28,519 --> 00:26:29,760
So I rang Cian, and I
said,

463
00:26:29,800 --> 00:26:31,639
"Look, I'm not going to say
anything to Jim."

464
00:26:31,680 --> 00:26:33,279
I said, "But book us
into a hotel.

465
00:26:33,839 --> 00:26:35,440
I said, "I'm coming
up there tomorrow.

466
00:26:35,480 --> 00:26:36,720
That's it."

467
00:26:44,279 --> 00:26:46,000
What they are trying
to determine, he said,

468
00:26:46,080 --> 00:26:50,279
all the way through
this case, is the amount.

469
00:26:50,319 --> 00:26:51,440
"It's all about money," he said,

470
00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:55,519
"at the end of the day is how
much your dying is going to

471
00:26:55,599 --> 00:26:57,599
cost them and what
the impact is."

472
00:26:59,599 --> 00:27:02,559
So he said, "You've got two
young children. So the way that

473
00:27:02,599 --> 00:27:04,160
they might go about this,
he said,

474
00:27:04,199 --> 00:27:05,879
is about your child care
arrangements.

475
00:27:07,400 --> 00:27:10,199
When you go, who's
going to mind your children?

476
00:27:10,239 --> 00:27:11,519
You know, if your
husband's at work?

477
00:27:12,400 --> 00:27:15,279
You know, Amelia was
nearly 13, so they really were

478
00:27:15,360 --> 00:27:17,559
only responsible for her
up until 18.

479
00:27:18,400 --> 00:27:21,080
So they only had five years
really to kind of calculate on

480
00:27:21,279 --> 00:27:22,599
what they needed to pay
out for her.

481
00:27:22,720 --> 00:27:23,919
Then Darragh was much younger.

482
00:27:25,360 --> 00:27:27,760
Well, Vicky was her case.

483
00:27:28,279 --> 00:27:33,120
She communicated her
experience through this

484
00:27:34,040 --> 00:27:38,400
so brilliantly, and the
everybody in the courtroom was

485
00:27:38,480 --> 00:27:39,480
affected by it.

486
00:27:39,519 --> 00:27:40,599
I remember my best friend

487
00:27:40,720 --> 00:27:42,480
She's an awful softy anyway,
she's a nurse.

488
00:27:43,040 --> 00:27:44,480
She would cry now at
the drop of a hat.

489
00:27:44,519 --> 00:27:46,760
(sniffles) All I could hear
was this, you know.

490
00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:48,519
You know what the
worst part of it was?

491
00:27:48,879 --> 00:27:50,680
Thank God I couldn't see them
because,

492
00:27:50,720 --> 00:27:52,800
the stenographer who
was sitting across from me,

493
00:27:52,839 --> 00:27:53,839
that was bad enough.

494
00:27:53,919 --> 00:27:56,919
She was typing and the tears
were rolling down her face.

495
00:27:56,959 --> 00:27:58,120
And I was trying to look away.

496
00:27:58,160 --> 00:27:59,720
And at the end, she said
to me, I remember when

497
00:27:59,760 --> 00:28:00,800
we were finished.

498
00:28:00,879 --> 00:28:02,279
She put her hand across the table
she said,

499
00:28:02,319 --> 00:28:04,000
"Vicky I'm so sorry," she
said, "for getting upset."

500
00:28:04,040 --> 00:28:06,040
She said, "I know it's
not professional," but she said,

501
00:28:06,160 --> 00:28:07,440
"I couldn't help myself."

502
00:28:07,519 --> 00:28:09,519
You know, oh the tears were
streaming down her face,

503
00:28:09,559 --> 00:28:11,839
and I was there trying not to look
at her, you know,

504
00:28:11,919 --> 00:28:12,919
and look anywhere

505
00:28:12,959 --> 00:28:16,959
But I kind of picked a point
across kind of over her head

506
00:28:17,319 --> 00:28:20,199
because I couldn't really focus
unless I was, you know,

507
00:28:20,480 --> 00:28:22,879
blocked it all out, really,
to be able to answer the questions

508
00:28:23,040 --> 00:28:24,480
From a litigation point
of view,

509
00:28:24,760 --> 00:28:26,599
you do need certain things.

510
00:28:26,720 --> 00:28:29,559
You need certain assets or
strengths with your clients.

511
00:28:29,800 --> 00:28:32,800
And and she had
them all and in spades.

512
00:28:33,400 --> 00:28:36,480
She was very sick as to do with
the cancer itself, tumours.

513
00:28:36,519 --> 00:28:38,800
They were very advanced,
very large.

514
00:28:39,080 --> 00:28:43,480
And they were creating just
internal anatomical problems.

515
00:28:44,319 --> 00:28:46,319
And that was the sickness
that was there.

516
00:28:46,839 --> 00:28:50,239
She also had a confirmation
that week to plan,

517
00:28:50,279 --> 00:28:52,160
and to work through.

518
00:28:52,959 --> 00:28:53,959
Sorry.

519
00:29:00,239 --> 00:29:01,239
Sorry about that.

520
00:29:01,599 --> 00:29:03,279
Just give us a second.

521
00:29:03,319 --> 00:29:04,319
I'll take a cup of coffee.

522
00:29:04,599 --> 00:29:09,199
I think I was most affected
by the fact that she had to go

523
00:29:09,279 --> 00:29:12,879
into the witness box in court
and to talk about really

524
00:29:12,959 --> 00:29:14,440
intimate things like
her sex life.

525
00:29:14,559 --> 00:29:19,680
And this is not an
acceptable way, human way,

526
00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:25,199
a civilized way of dealing with
episodes of failure of clinical

527
00:29:25,239 --> 00:29:28,279
systems in some way or other,
whether they're...

528
00:29:28,319 --> 00:29:31,000
whether there's an intrinsic error
in the system.

529
00:29:31,040 --> 00:29:32,400
It doesn't matter
whether it's negligence.

530
00:29:32,440 --> 00:29:33,440
It doesn't matter.

531
00:29:33,480 --> 00:29:36,360
This is no way of
dealing with things.

532
00:29:36,559 --> 00:29:39,959
Vicky Phelan had a smear test in 2011
under the National

533
00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:41,919
CervicalCheck Screening Programme.

534
00:29:42,199 --> 00:29:44,319
It was wrongly
reported as clear.

535
00:29:44,559 --> 00:29:45,919
There are no winners
here today.

536
00:29:46,279 --> 00:29:48,919
I am terminally ill and there
is no cure for my cancer.

537
00:29:49,639 --> 00:29:52,879
My settlement will mostly be
spent on buying me time,

538
00:29:52,919 --> 00:29:55,760
and on paying for clinical trials to
keep me alive,

539
00:29:55,800 --> 00:30:00,040
and to allow me to spend more time
with my children.

540
00:30:02,080 --> 00:30:04,440
If I die, and I truly hope that
won't be the case,

541
00:30:04,480 --> 00:30:06,199
the money would provide for my
family.

542
00:30:06,279 --> 00:30:08,720
The conduct of CervicalCheck
and the HSE in my

543
00:30:08,800 --> 00:30:10,000
case is unforgivable.

544
00:30:10,080 --> 00:30:11,599
To know for almost three
years

545
00:30:11,639 --> 00:30:13,599
that a mistake had been
made and that I was

546
00:30:13,639 --> 00:30:15,279
misdiagnosed is bad enough.

547
00:30:15,599 --> 00:30:17,199
But to keep
that information from

548
00:30:17,239 --> 00:30:18,239
me until I became

549
00:30:18,279 --> 00:30:21,040
terminally ill and to drag me
through the courts to fight for

550
00:30:21,120 --> 00:30:24,720
my right to the truth is an
appalling breach of trust.

551
00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:28,400
And I truly hope that some good
will come of this case.

552
00:30:28,440 --> 00:30:30,040
and that there will be an
investigation

553
00:30:30,080 --> 00:30:32,160
into the CervicalCheck
program as a result of this.

554
00:30:32,199 --> 00:30:34,160
Oh my God. When I saw the number
this morning,

555
00:30:34,199 --> 00:30:36,199
I really know I could have dropped.

556
00:30:36,639 --> 00:30:39,879
We knew that there were at
least 14 other women and we

557
00:30:39,919 --> 00:30:41,760
kind of surmised that there
were more than that,

558
00:30:41,800 --> 00:30:42,800
to be honest.

559
00:30:42,839 --> 00:30:44,959
But I really didn't think there
would be more than 40 or 50,

560
00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:46,040
you know, nationally.

561
00:30:46,080 --> 00:30:49,080
First thing that they put on the
table ever, before,

562
00:30:49,120 --> 00:30:53,440
you know, kind of looking at
money or, you know, trying to

563
00:30:53,480 --> 00:30:57,279
settle this, you know, in a
normal way, as I would think

564
00:30:57,760 --> 00:30:59,239
was a confidentiality clause.

565
00:30:59,319 --> 00:31:00,720
That's what straight away that
was what they were

566
00:31:00,760 --> 00:31:01,760
looking for.

567
00:31:01,800 --> 00:31:03,879
And I mean... So you'd go home,
back down to Annacotty and keep

568
00:31:03,919 --> 00:31:04,919
your mouth shut.

569
00:31:04,959 --> 00:31:06,040
Keep your mouth shut
and we'll pay you off.

570
00:31:06,319 --> 00:31:07,319
Yeah, basically.

571
00:31:07,879 --> 00:31:09,680
Now, if you had agreed
to that,

572
00:31:09,720 --> 00:31:11,879
Mm-hmm.
the country wouldn't know

573
00:31:11,919 --> 00:31:13,879
the extent of this controversy.
Absolutely not.

574
00:31:13,919 --> 00:31:16,959
We would know that there are
206 women in a similar

575
00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:18,000
situation to you.

576
00:31:18,760 --> 00:31:19,839
We've just got news in now

577
00:31:19,919 --> 00:31:23,000
that Professor Grainne Flannelly
who's the director

578
00:31:23,080 --> 00:31:27,519
of CervicalCheck, has informed
the HSE of her intention to

579
00:31:27,599 --> 00:31:30,199
stand aside as clinical
director of the services.

580
00:31:30,239 --> 00:31:35,080
(applause)

581
00:31:40,839 --> 00:31:42,919
I just want to say how saddened I
was to hear

582
00:31:43,360 --> 00:31:45,519
about the case of Vicky Phelan,

583
00:31:45,559 --> 00:31:48,720
and the extent to which I feel
for her and her family.

584
00:31:49,279 --> 00:31:53,680
And I am very angry on behalf
of the 160 or so women who were

585
00:31:53,760 --> 00:31:55,519
not told of the results
of the audit.

586
00:31:55,760 --> 00:31:58,319
And I know this country is a country
that hasn't always

587
00:31:58,639 --> 00:32:02,199
treated women very well and in
the past, and even today perhaps,

588
00:32:02,239 --> 00:32:03,239
treats them very badly.

589
00:32:03,720 --> 00:32:05,639
That's why I'm determined to
get to the bottom of this.

590
00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:10,319
Information was deliberately
withheld from women and

591
00:32:10,400 --> 00:32:11,879
from their families.

592
00:32:12,120 --> 00:32:13,519
That's the issue here.

593
00:32:13,680 --> 00:32:16,000
Can you answer also
my question as regards Mr.

594
00:32:16,040 --> 00:32:19,040
Tony O'Brien, Head of the HSE?

595
00:32:19,160 --> 00:32:21,360
Do you have confidence in him
Taoiseach?

596
00:32:21,440 --> 00:32:22,879
Because I certainly don't.

597
00:32:23,040 --> 00:32:26,959
Will you do the thing that is
glaringly apparent that you

598
00:32:27,040 --> 00:32:28,040
need to do?

599
00:32:28,080 --> 00:32:29,440
Will you relieve
from of his duties?

600
00:32:29,480 --> 00:32:32,040
The decision to outsource these
tests to the USA in 2008

601
00:32:32,080 --> 00:32:33,080
somehow cost lives?

602
00:32:33,199 --> 00:32:36,680
I explained why that is not yet
supported by the facts,

603
00:32:36,720 --> 00:32:39,639
and I think everyone, even Tony
O'Brien, deserves

604
00:32:39,680 --> 00:32:41,599
a fair hearing before
they are condemned.

605
00:32:41,839 --> 00:32:43,199
Let's have an investigation.

606
00:32:43,319 --> 00:32:44,519
Let's see what happened.

607
00:32:44,720 --> 00:32:45,879
Where is the accountability?

608
00:32:45,919 --> 00:32:47,199
Why don't we both wait?

609
00:32:47,360 --> 00:32:50,639
Why don't we both wait until
the outcome of the expert review?

610
00:32:51,080 --> 00:32:53,000
And then you can reflect and I
can reflect.

611
00:32:53,040 --> 00:32:55,519
At the moment you
are causing hysteria.

612
00:32:56,360 --> 00:32:59,599
Mr O'Brien also told the committee
that while he learned about the

613
00:32:59,639 --> 00:33:03,120
case of Vicky Phelan on
RTE news, he was told in a

614
00:33:03,199 --> 00:33:06,919
briefing note in 2016 that a
communications process was

615
00:33:07,040 --> 00:33:10,519
about to begin to notify
patients with cancer about an

616
00:33:10,639 --> 00:33:11,879
audit of their smear tests.

617
00:33:12,080 --> 00:33:15,680
Those 2016 memos
seen by Tony O'Brien,

618
00:33:15,760 --> 00:33:17,279
they're very revealing.

619
00:33:17,639 --> 00:33:20,360
They say CervicalCheck knew
cancer cases had been missed.

620
00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:24,559
It said that over 1,200 cases of
cervical cancer have been

621
00:33:24,639 --> 00:33:27,919
notified to the service
and it was reviewing 315.

622
00:33:28,160 --> 00:33:30,919
It was about to start telling
the treating doctors, but was

623
00:33:31,040 --> 00:33:33,639
warning of the risk of patients
contacting the media.

624
00:33:35,239 --> 00:33:37,680
So I suppose, you know,
like any mother, I still have

625
00:33:37,760 --> 00:33:39,480
the normal day to day
stuff to do.

626
00:33:39,559 --> 00:33:42,639
And to be honest, I'm struggling most
of the time to keep up.

627
00:33:42,680 --> 00:33:44,879
So I just do the bare necessities
now to be honest.

628
00:33:44,959 --> 00:33:45,959
to be honest.

629
00:33:46,319 --> 00:33:50,239
But I try to keep it as normal
as possible because, you know,

630
00:33:50,279 --> 00:33:53,080
I know the kids are very conscious
of...

631
00:33:53,120 --> 00:33:55,360
they know what I'm like when
I'm sick.

632
00:33:58,959 --> 00:34:01,839
Only my family and my friends
knew I had cancer in 2014.

633
00:34:02,239 --> 00:34:04,239
This time the whole
bloody country knew.

634
00:34:04,639 --> 00:34:06,160
You know, and it
was all over the papers.

635
00:34:06,239 --> 00:34:09,959
So I was kind of trying to keep
ahead of that the whole time.

636
00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:13,279
I mean, I'd never told the kids
it was terminal In January when

637
00:34:13,360 --> 00:34:15,480
I was diagnosed, I just told
them the cancer was back.

638
00:34:15,559 --> 00:34:20,720
They knew that. It kind of got
away from me, really, you know?

639
00:34:21,720 --> 00:34:23,120
Before I got to tell
Darragh,

640
00:34:23,160 --> 00:34:24,919
somebody in the schoolyard
said it to him.

641
00:34:24,959 --> 00:34:26,680
One of the boys in his class
just said to him,

642
00:34:26,720 --> 00:34:28,239
is your mammy
going to die?

643
00:34:28,519 --> 00:34:32,319
So, you know, that's very hard
when you have to sit down your

644
00:34:32,360 --> 00:34:34,360
seven year old and tell them,

645
00:34:34,400 --> 00:34:36,400
"Well, what do you think,
Darragh?"

646
00:34:36,440 --> 00:34:37,959
And at that stage I was
actually quite ill.

647
00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:39,400
So he actually
said that to me.

648
00:34:39,440 --> 00:34:40,440
He said, "Well,
you're very sick, Mam."

649
00:34:41,199 --> 00:34:42,199
And I said, "Yeah, I am."

650
00:34:42,239 --> 00:34:44,559
I said, "But you know..."
This was just before I started on

651
00:34:44,599 --> 00:34:45,639
the immunotherapy drug.

652
00:34:45,680 --> 00:34:48,480
I said, "If I start on this
immunotherapy drug, I said,

653
00:34:48,559 --> 00:34:50,760
you know, I'll have a chance."

654
00:34:50,839 --> 00:34:52,480
I said, "You know,
I'll be okay."

655
00:34:52,879 --> 00:34:55,080
And I did it in terms the way I the
only way I could describe it,

656
00:34:55,120 --> 00:34:56,760
and Jesus, this was a totally
off the cuff on the day...

657
00:34:56,800 --> 00:34:58,440
Star Wars.

658
00:34:58,480 --> 00:35:00,360
That just came into my head.
Star Wars.

659
00:35:00,400 --> 00:35:02,959
I was trying to explain how
immunotherapy drugs worked.

660
00:35:03,040 --> 00:35:05,480
And I said, it's like
the tie fighters in Star Wars,

661
00:35:05,599 --> 00:35:07,120
you know,
I said they're shooting.

662
00:35:07,199 --> 00:35:09,279
I said to try and,
you know, kill the other jets.

663
00:35:09,360 --> 00:35:11,239
I said, that's basically what's
happening in my body.

664
00:35:12,440 --> 00:35:15,959
This is the ward where
I come to have my treatment.

665
00:35:17,040 --> 00:35:18,040
Just show you...

666
00:35:19,279 --> 00:35:20,279
And you come out here.

667
00:35:20,879 --> 00:35:24,199
So you just come in
these doors here.

668
00:35:24,319 --> 00:35:26,319
So you're coming into St
Anne's Day Centre.

669
00:35:31,319 --> 00:35:33,000
So...

670
00:35:33,360 --> 00:35:36,120
I'm just waiting here to get my
infusion,

671
00:35:36,160 --> 00:35:38,639
so my hand is prepped
and ready to go.

672
00:35:41,680 --> 00:35:43,800
I've brought my kids in first
time and just when I was

673
00:35:43,879 --> 00:35:46,000
having radiation, but they were
just in the waiting room.

674
00:35:46,040 --> 00:35:48,440
But they're always curious as
to what happens, you know?

675
00:36:10,720 --> 00:36:12,800
So this is the pembrolizumab
now going up.

676
00:36:24,919 --> 00:36:28,160
So that's for 30 minutes. Okay.
So that's it's starting to go in.

677
00:36:28,239 --> 00:36:29,639
Okay. Brilliant, thank you.

678
00:36:29,720 --> 00:36:31,400
# (music)

679
00:36:31,440 --> 00:36:32,760
So that it,

680
00:36:32,800 --> 00:36:33,800
it's in.

681
00:36:35,279 --> 00:36:38,760
The HSE serious incident management
team said most women

682
00:36:38,839 --> 00:36:41,519
or families affected would be
contacted today or

683
00:36:41,599 --> 00:36:42,599
by tomorrow.

684
00:36:45,720 --> 00:36:50,080
There have been 17 deaths
confirmed

685
00:36:50,279 --> 00:36:52,599
amongst that cohort.

686
00:36:52,760 --> 00:36:54,120
As you probably have heard,

687
00:36:54,400 --> 00:36:56,559
today is going to be my last day

688
00:36:56,599 --> 00:36:59,199
as director general
of the HSE.

689
00:37:05,239 --> 00:37:07,440
Where's Oscar?
Back there.

690
00:37:08,120 --> 00:37:09,720
Do you want to go get him?
No.

691
00:37:09,760 --> 00:37:12,360
No?
No.

692
00:37:16,400 --> 00:37:21,680
Which one can I have?
Two of them.

693
00:37:21,720 --> 00:37:23,040
I can have the two of them?

694
00:37:27,199 --> 00:37:28,879
What happened your eye?

695
00:37:28,959 --> 00:37:31,040
I moved my eyeball.

696
00:37:35,040 --> 00:37:39,760
It wasn't until the 14th of
July 2017 when they actually

697
00:37:39,800 --> 00:37:42,879
sat us down and said,
"We're stopping all treatment.

698
00:37:42,919 --> 00:37:47,480
This cancer's too progressive."
Were we told that this is terminal.

699
00:37:47,519 --> 00:37:50,239
That was the very first time
that we knew that this

700
00:37:50,279 --> 00:37:51,480
battle was over.

701
00:38:04,720 --> 00:38:07,000
So our oldest boy, Oscar,
hadn't started school yet.

702
00:38:07,040 --> 00:38:09,199
So Irene straight away,
target in her head.

703
00:38:09,239 --> 00:38:10,680
I just want to see
Oscar start school.

704
00:38:10,879 --> 00:38:11,959
This is all I
want to live for.

705
00:38:13,639 --> 00:38:16,160
A week and a half later,
Irene passed away,

706
00:38:16,199 --> 00:38:18,559
so we didn't even get our few
short weeks.

707
00:38:24,400 --> 00:38:26,120
When Irene passed away,

708
00:38:26,160 --> 00:38:29,000
any time I heard anything
on the news

709
00:38:29,120 --> 00:38:31,239
about cancer, or online,

710
00:38:31,279 --> 00:38:33,800
or anything cancer-related, I just
turned it off,

711
00:38:33,839 --> 00:38:37,319
and walked away done that journey,
lost out bad to it.

712
00:38:37,400 --> 00:38:39,239
I don't want to know anything
about it,

713
00:38:39,279 --> 00:38:42,239
so I don't know anything about
Vicky's court case on the Wednesday.

714
00:38:42,319 --> 00:38:44,760
I had ignored it, and a couple
of days after it,

715
00:38:44,800 --> 00:38:47,400
on the Saturday night, Vicky was on
the Ray Darcy show,

716
00:38:47,440 --> 00:38:51,879
I ignored that. Sunday then, it just
completely snowballed,

717
00:38:51,919 --> 00:38:57,360
that interview that Vicky did
with Ray, and just clips of her

718
00:38:57,440 --> 00:38:59,599
interviews popping up
everywhere in social media

719
00:38:59,680 --> 00:39:02,480
and I was just ignoring,
ignoring, ignoring all

720
00:39:02,519 --> 00:39:03,519
that Sunday morning.

721
00:39:03,559 --> 00:39:05,239
And by afternoon, it got to a
stage where, alright,

722
00:39:05,279 --> 00:39:06,839
well actually I have to see
what this is about,

723
00:39:06,879 --> 00:39:08,919
because there's no getting away from
it now.

724
00:39:08,959 --> 00:39:12,040
Later on Sunday then, the news was
that 17 women

725
00:39:12,080 --> 00:39:14,839
had died before they
got the audit results.

726
00:39:15,440 --> 00:39:18,480
And that was the first time for
me that now I got interested in

727
00:39:18,559 --> 00:39:20,919
the story because smear tests,
cervical cancer,

728
00:39:20,959 --> 00:39:23,120
but now people are dead.

729
00:39:23,160 --> 00:39:26,000
Monday the HSE announced that
they're going to contact

730
00:39:26,040 --> 00:39:29,160
everybody that is involved in
this or all of the women,

731
00:39:29,480 --> 00:39:32,040
and they're going to contact
the next of kin of the 17 women

732
00:39:32,279 --> 00:39:33,279
that had passed away.

733
00:39:34,199 --> 00:39:35,839
So now I'm waiting by the
phone.

734
00:39:35,879 --> 00:39:37,319
And the following day then,

735
00:39:37,360 --> 00:39:39,959
and I'm up in my office in
Tallaght,

736
00:39:40,360 --> 00:39:41,720
em...

737
00:39:42,080 --> 00:39:45,000
and I got a call from the HSE to say
that Irene's name

738
00:39:45,040 --> 00:39:48,279
came up in the most recent audit,
and that was the first time

739
00:39:48,319 --> 00:39:50,800
that we got confirmation that Irene
was in it.

740
00:39:51,319 --> 00:39:52,519
I just turned to the lady on the
phone,

741
00:39:52,559 --> 00:39:53,559
"Is she one of the 17 women?"

742
00:39:53,599 --> 00:39:54,800
And she's like, "Yes, she is."

743
00:39:55,599 --> 00:39:57,720
And I asked what are these smears
in relation to?

744
00:39:57,760 --> 00:40:01,519
And she was like 2010
and 2013.

745
00:40:01,559 --> 00:40:03,639
I was like, "2010.
There's two of them?"

746
00:40:04,400 --> 00:40:06,080
She's like, "No, no,
no, sorry, I can't answer

747
00:40:06,120 --> 00:40:07,879
these questions.
I'm not a clinical advisor."

748
00:40:14,319 --> 00:40:17,839
Basically, I could have been one of
the women like Irene,

749
00:40:17,879 --> 00:40:19,680
Stephen's wife,

750
00:40:20,480 --> 00:40:23,239
who wasn't given the chance to
find out,

751
00:40:23,279 --> 00:40:26,919
and who wasn't given
the chance to fight.

752
00:40:27,919 --> 00:40:29,519
And Stephen is here
on her behalf.

753
00:40:30,559 --> 00:40:32,160
At least I'm still
here to tell the tale.

754
00:40:32,239 --> 00:40:34,040
And that's why I'm fighting
with everything within

755
00:40:34,160 --> 00:40:35,680
my being, not only to live,

756
00:40:35,720 --> 00:40:37,599
but to get to the bottom
of this.

757
00:40:37,760 --> 00:40:42,360
I'm here representing my
late wife, Irene, who died July,

758
00:40:42,440 --> 00:40:44,279
last year at the age of 35.

759
00:40:45,199 --> 00:40:50,639
And I'm going to begin just two
weeks to go, just over two

760
00:40:50,720 --> 00:40:54,639
weeks ago when the HSE first
contacted me.

761
00:40:54,720 --> 00:40:57,400
Both these smear tests that Irene
was led to believe

762
00:40:57,440 --> 00:40:58,480
both came back
clear.

763
00:40:58,559 --> 00:41:02,760
And the 2010 said call back in
three years,

764
00:41:02,800 --> 00:41:06,080
the 2013 said call
back 3 to 5 years time.

765
00:41:07,000 --> 00:41:09,120
when these were all audited,

766
00:41:09,519 --> 00:41:14,800
it turns out that the 2010 had
precancerous cells in it,

767
00:41:15,519 --> 00:41:20,000
and that was the results from
the audit, to which I asked what

768
00:41:20,080 --> 00:41:23,040
would have this triggered if she
actually got these results day one?

769
00:41:23,120 --> 00:41:25,559
They would have brought her
back in,

770
00:41:25,599 --> 00:41:28,160
and they would have done
a physical examination.

771
00:41:28,239 --> 00:41:29,319
They would have performed
the procedure,

772
00:41:29,360 --> 00:41:32,519
what they were burned the way to
cells,

773
00:41:32,879 --> 00:41:37,279
and chances are that was it
then go live the rest of your life.

774
00:41:39,959 --> 00:41:40,959
Nothing was offered.

775
00:41:41,919 --> 00:41:45,440
No support services, nothing for...

776
00:41:45,800 --> 00:41:48,839
me to help my kids through their
bereavement.

777
00:41:50,400 --> 00:41:53,480
Oscar was four when his mum
died and Noah was two,

778
00:41:53,519 --> 00:41:55,080
they are five and three today.

779
00:41:58,319 --> 00:42:02,360
I had to inform Irene's GP that
she was one of the 17 women

780
00:42:02,400 --> 00:42:03,800
who were audited.

781
00:42:03,839 --> 00:42:07,559
I had to inform Irene's GP about
the results of the audit.

782
00:42:07,879 --> 00:42:10,000
From what it looks like,
information was clearly

783
00:42:10,080 --> 00:42:11,959
withheld now from
the ministers.

784
00:42:12,599 --> 00:42:14,720
We have to take them at their
word

785
00:42:14,760 --> 00:42:16,919
that they did not
receive this information.

786
00:42:18,440 --> 00:42:21,639
But it seems to be
that the people in these senior

787
00:42:21,680 --> 00:42:25,440
positions that knew about all
of these memos in 2016

788
00:42:25,480 --> 00:42:29,879
are the same people that are in
senior positions today,

789
00:42:29,919 --> 00:42:33,680
and that need to be questioned when
it comes to these inquiries.

790
00:42:34,519 --> 00:42:36,800
And they are clearly and
obviously sitting on this

791
00:42:36,879 --> 00:42:39,239
information preventing us to
get as and this drip,

792
00:42:39,279 --> 00:42:42,120
drip feed that you guys seem to be
getting in these committee

793
00:42:42,199 --> 00:42:46,639
meetings. It's clear, it's
obvious that this is going on.

794
00:42:47,120 --> 00:42:50,160
Who approved this
communications strategy,

795
00:42:50,199 --> 00:42:52,480
and who decided that it was
okay,

796
00:42:52,720 --> 00:42:54,480
not only not to tell
the clinicians,

797
00:42:54,519 --> 00:42:56,120
but not to tell the patients.

798
00:42:56,160 --> 00:42:57,160
You know?

799
00:42:57,440 --> 00:43:00,639
And why were the HSE more worried
about being sued by the labs,

800
00:43:00,680 --> 00:43:03,480
you know? such as quest than
communications information

801
00:43:03,519 --> 00:43:05,720
on incorrect or misread smears to
patients?

802
00:43:06,199 --> 00:43:08,040
This is not
just a woman issue.

803
00:43:08,559 --> 00:43:11,160
This is affecting men and
children

804
00:43:11,199 --> 00:43:14,760
who are without their
mothers and their wives.

805
00:43:15,120 --> 00:43:17,000
I never want to see
this happen again.

806
00:43:17,120 --> 00:43:20,480
And if I do die, I
want it to be not in vain.

807
00:43:20,559 --> 00:43:23,279
And I want to make sure that
there are protocols

808
00:43:23,319 --> 00:43:26,239
put in place, sanctions for people
who are not accountable,

809
00:43:26,839 --> 00:43:29,000
who make these mistakes and are
held accountable,

810
00:43:29,040 --> 00:43:31,400
and that the HSE is overhauled,

811
00:43:31,440 --> 00:43:34,639
and I mean, overhauled, you know,
from the ground up.

812
00:43:35,279 --> 00:43:36,279
So that...

813
00:43:36,800 --> 00:43:39,080
people are held accountable and
that this will never happen

814
00:43:39,199 --> 00:43:40,480
again in any shape or form.

815
00:43:41,839 --> 00:43:44,279
It's certainly one of the
biggest medical scandals,

816
00:43:44,360 --> 00:43:47,839
but there would be pretty
intense competition from

817
00:43:47,879 --> 00:43:50,279
our health service.

818
00:43:50,400 --> 00:43:51,400
Of course,

819
00:43:51,440 --> 00:43:52,440
what do they all
have in common ?

820
00:43:53,120 --> 00:43:54,120
Women's health.

821
00:43:54,800 --> 00:43:58,879
And we don't seem to be
able to do women's health very

822
00:43:58,959 --> 00:44:01,559
well here,
particularly anything to do

823
00:44:01,639 --> 00:44:03,319
with the area of reproduction.

824
00:44:04,239 --> 00:44:05,239
# (music)

825
00:44:09,080 --> 00:44:10,440
That was really hard to hear.

826
00:44:11,919 --> 00:44:12,919
Really hard to hear.

827
00:44:13,400 --> 00:44:17,160
Just, you know, actually,
it isn't fate that brought

828
00:44:17,239 --> 00:44:18,720
you to where
you are today, Lorraine.

829
00:44:19,559 --> 00:44:21,440
It's somebody that messed up.

830
00:44:23,839 --> 00:44:26,480
And meant that you didn't get
treated a year earlier than you

831
00:44:26,559 --> 00:44:30,000
should have been, which has
completely changed your life.

832
00:44:37,040 --> 00:44:39,919
This is actually
the review, the audit.

833
00:44:40,199 --> 00:44:44,360
And it says here that the smear test
on the 23rd of June 2011,

834
00:44:45,199 --> 00:44:48,559
the original report was
reported as LSIL which is

835
00:44:48,599 --> 00:44:52,040
low-grade squamous lesion,
repeat smear test in

836
00:44:52,080 --> 00:44:54,319
six months, and then the
final review option.

837
00:44:54,879 --> 00:44:58,040
It went from the
lowest to the highest.

838
00:45:00,559 --> 00:45:01,680
High grade squamous.

839
00:45:02,239 --> 00:45:05,480
I can't even pronounce that...
lesion.

840
00:45:05,599 --> 00:45:08,080
The big thing for us was would
we be able to have children?

841
00:45:08,319 --> 00:45:10,720
That's that's was my
big thing from the beginning.

842
00:45:10,760 --> 00:45:11,879
I didn't care I had cancer.

843
00:45:11,919 --> 00:45:14,360
All I wanted to know was will
we be able to have children?

844
00:45:16,000 --> 00:45:18,839
I... I found it emotionally
harder than anything.

845
00:45:20,040 --> 00:45:23,879
Physically, physically,
I could do surgeries.

846
00:45:24,800 --> 00:45:26,239
I became a pro at surgeries.

847
00:45:26,319 --> 00:45:27,319
I really did.

848
00:45:27,919 --> 00:45:29,720
But emotionally,
it nearly broke me.

849
00:45:30,839 --> 00:45:34,080
I remember my friend being home
from New Zealand,

850
00:45:34,120 --> 00:45:40,279
and she had a baby, and my other two
friends had their babies close before

851
00:45:40,319 --> 00:45:44,040
that and there were all meeting
up, and I just couldn't go.

852
00:45:47,160 --> 00:45:48,919
Because I knew that...

853
00:45:50,559 --> 00:45:52,519
you know, that wasn't
going to happen for me.

854
00:45:53,839 --> 00:45:57,120
So we came to terms slowly but surely
with the fact that

855
00:45:57,160 --> 00:45:59,120
we weren't going to have a family.

856
00:46:00,120 --> 00:46:04,000
And and that
was a long process.

857
00:46:04,480 --> 00:46:09,400
I sent some of my colleagues to the
United States,

858
00:46:09,440 --> 00:46:15,839
including a medical consultant who
was very experienced in quality

859
00:46:15,919 --> 00:46:18,440
assurance of laboratory services
and screening services.

860
00:46:18,800 --> 00:46:23,120
And they visited the labs and
looked at the current system.

861
00:46:23,639 --> 00:46:27,319
A major part of it was to make
sure that the... the quality

862
00:46:27,440 --> 00:46:29,599
assurance in the labs
was good at the moment.

863
00:46:30,080 --> 00:46:33,879
And then they asked questions
about, historically,

864
00:46:33,919 --> 00:46:35,839
what had been happening in
those labs.

865
00:46:36,319 --> 00:46:42,000
And my colleagues asked some
quite blunt questions.

866
00:46:42,080 --> 00:46:46,400
And they eventually got really
surprising answers about how

867
00:46:47,440 --> 00:46:49,400
slides were sent to other
laboratories,

868
00:46:49,440 --> 00:46:51,800
from Florida to Honolulu.

869
00:46:51,919 --> 00:46:55,040
Slides are usually read by two
people, two different people,

870
00:46:55,279 --> 00:46:56,720
and so they're double read.

871
00:46:57,120 --> 00:47:01,199
And that's in order to
try and reduce the...

872
00:47:01,279 --> 00:47:02,279
the possibility of error.

873
00:47:02,360 --> 00:47:06,040
And they'd be read in one place
for the first reading,

874
00:47:06,080 --> 00:47:08,720
and then another place for
the second reading.

875
00:47:08,879 --> 00:47:12,879
Now the slides are quite robust
and unlikely to be damaged,

876
00:47:12,919 --> 00:47:16,319
or influenced by being moved
around like this.

877
00:47:17,000 --> 00:47:20,720
But this really didn't sound to
us at all like good practice,

878
00:47:20,760 --> 00:47:27,239
particularly since we couldn't
find any record of

879
00:47:27,319 --> 00:47:30,680
CervicalCheck back in Ireland ever
having been told that this

880
00:47:30,720 --> 00:47:33,559
was happening, that they were
going out to other companies

881
00:47:34,000 --> 00:47:38,959
and also that some of these
labs no longer existed.

882
00:47:39,239 --> 00:47:40,800
So we couldn't really....

883
00:47:42,360 --> 00:47:44,480
check them out because they
weren't there anymore.

884
00:47:44,800 --> 00:47:48,480
Dr. Scally, can they ask you that,
given the information was

885
00:47:48,559 --> 00:47:52,400
apparently hidden from you as
it relates to locations,

886
00:47:52,440 --> 00:47:55,440
for example, 16,
not six laboratories?

887
00:47:56,000 --> 00:47:59,239
Does that information hidden from you
include the HSE hiding it?

888
00:47:59,279 --> 00:48:02,279
The news of the additional report is
came as much a shock to the

889
00:48:03,279 --> 00:48:07,519
staff of CervicalCheck and HSE
as they did to me.

890
00:48:08,480 --> 00:48:11,599
But I think if you go back to
the women and families here,

891
00:48:12,480 --> 00:48:13,879
they want a number of things.

892
00:48:14,120 --> 00:48:16,639
One, they want the truth
of what happened.

893
00:48:17,120 --> 00:48:19,760
The number of women
had this information withheld

894
00:48:19,839 --> 00:48:20,839
from them.

895
00:48:20,879 --> 00:48:22,680
So, you know,
they have lost confidence.

896
00:48:22,760 --> 00:48:25,760
They have lost trust in
the medical system.

897
00:48:26,080 --> 00:48:27,559
And they want an
apology for that.

898
00:48:27,680 --> 00:48:29,160
And I want
an apology for that.

899
00:48:29,400 --> 00:48:33,919
I want somebody in this country
that is authorised by the state

900
00:48:34,000 --> 00:48:35,239
of the country to say,

901
00:48:35,279 --> 00:48:36,800
"I am sorry for what happened
to you."

902
00:48:36,839 --> 00:48:38,919
Vicky had her smear done in CPL,

903
00:48:38,959 --> 00:48:41,800
and Lorraine had her smears done
CPL,

904
00:48:41,839 --> 00:48:44,319
Irene had her first first smear
got done in CPL,

905
00:48:44,360 --> 00:48:46,120
I just couldn't believe
it.

906
00:48:46,400 --> 00:48:47,720
And then you go on to
learn that, you know,

907
00:48:47,839 --> 00:48:50,000
like cervical check
didn't have a clue

908
00:48:50,959 --> 00:48:53,959
It was just mind blowing.

909
00:48:54,319 --> 00:48:56,360
The fact that CPL couldn't
answer

910
00:48:56,400 --> 00:48:59,879
where how many smears
went to where.

911
00:49:02,360 --> 00:49:05,360
People don't realize
that actually, you know,

912
00:49:05,879 --> 00:49:08,680
you're not able to come to the
press conference today because

913
00:49:08,720 --> 00:49:10,040
you were vomiting.

914
00:49:10,400 --> 00:49:12,480
This seems to be
a pattern that I've developing,

915
00:49:12,559 --> 00:49:13,559
isn't it, Lorraine?

916
00:49:13,800 --> 00:49:16,120
So the last Scally report,
I couldn't go to either.

917
00:49:16,160 --> 00:49:17,680
So Stephen and Lorraine went.

918
00:49:17,760 --> 00:49:21,199
But actually I really wanted to
go to be fair.

919
00:49:21,279 --> 00:49:22,279
We nearly had to
talk you out of it.

920
00:49:22,400 --> 00:49:23,400
I know you did, actually.

921
00:49:23,720 --> 00:49:25,480
Only for I vomited on the way out
of the hospital,

922
00:49:25,519 --> 00:49:27,959
I probably would have I
think.

923
00:49:28,000 --> 00:49:29,800
I would have said to the taxi
driver, "Ah go on,

924
00:49:29,839 --> 00:49:31,239
bring me over to Buswells."

925
00:49:32,599 --> 00:49:34,680
I felt fine until I started to move
around,

926
00:49:34,720 --> 00:49:36,599
and I then started vomiting, anyway
the reason I couldn't go

927
00:49:36,639 --> 00:49:39,319
was because I
had a procedure done.

928
00:49:39,360 --> 00:49:42,800
My veins are shot
I got a portocath in.

929
00:49:44,480 --> 00:49:48,400
The last time any laboratory
was visited was in 2014,

930
00:49:48,440 --> 00:49:51,839
and at the conclusion of each of
those visits,

931
00:49:51,879 --> 00:49:55,800
serious concerns were raised, and
then not followed up,

932
00:49:55,839 --> 00:49:59,000
by the National Screening Service and
by CervicalCheck.

933
00:49:59,959 --> 00:50:02,360
I think there you are telling
those laboratories

934
00:50:02,400 --> 00:50:04,000
that they can do what
they want.

935
00:50:05,000 --> 00:50:08,360
You are handing over all of the
responsibility

936
00:50:08,400 --> 00:50:11,959
for checks and balances to
the very company that

937
00:50:12,000 --> 00:50:16,199
has a vested financial interest in
doing this job quickly,

938
00:50:16,239 --> 00:50:18,879
doing it cheaply and maximizing
profits.

939
00:50:20,239 --> 00:50:22,680
So this is just the new
update of it?

940
00:50:24,559 --> 00:50:26,519
Is that gone to press?
It's going shortly.

941
00:50:26,599 --> 00:50:28,760
We just need to approve it.

942
00:50:34,160 --> 00:50:37,800
This group of Vicky,
Loraine and Stephen.

943
00:50:38,599 --> 00:50:43,279
They've emerged and they've,
you know, at considerable

944
00:50:43,319 --> 00:50:45,279
personal cost to themselves,

945
00:50:45,360 --> 00:50:50,040
I think... put so much effort
into making things better.

946
00:50:50,120 --> 00:50:51,160
So much effort.

947
00:50:51,199 --> 00:50:53,199
It's deeply,
deeply impressive.

948
00:50:53,879 --> 00:50:56,879
I see similarities between what
has happened in the church,

949
00:50:56,919 --> 00:51:00,319
to what is now happening with the
medical profession in this country.

950
00:51:00,360 --> 00:51:03,040
The medical profession in this
country have had

951
00:51:03,080 --> 00:51:05,360
a hold on the way things have
happened.

952
00:51:05,400 --> 00:51:07,760
So just because Scally's report
is going to come out now,

953
00:51:08,000 --> 00:51:10,879
that doesn't mean that these
recommendations are actually

954
00:51:10,919 --> 00:51:13,879
going to be implemented,
because that's not what happens

955
00:51:14,000 --> 00:51:15,919
in this country, and that's
what I'm challenging.

956
00:51:16,400 --> 00:51:19,519
I want to see real change
happening in this country where

957
00:51:19,559 --> 00:51:23,959
we're not just, you know,
what would you call that?

958
00:51:25,080 --> 00:51:26,080
You know...

959
00:51:26,480 --> 00:51:29,279
Doing these reports,
doing these HiQA investigations

960
00:51:29,360 --> 00:51:31,279
and then, you know, the report
kind of gathers dust and

961
00:51:31,319 --> 00:51:33,199
nothing happens and then we
just wait for the next

962
00:51:33,239 --> 00:51:34,239
scandal to come.

963
00:51:34,360 --> 00:51:35,919
And that's the
that's the pattern.

964
00:51:35,959 --> 00:51:39,279
But when we read it
and we saw 50 recommendations,

965
00:51:39,360 --> 00:51:43,360
that'll instantly improve the
program immediately, like,

966
00:51:43,400 --> 00:51:44,400
we were blown away by that,

967
00:51:44,440 --> 00:51:46,360
because we did not expect
that at all.

968
00:51:46,400 --> 00:51:49,279
The HSE, this monolith with
150,000 employees,

969
00:51:49,559 --> 00:51:51,279
no board overseeing anything,

970
00:51:51,319 --> 00:51:53,800
so that is already on the cards
to be introduced.

971
00:51:53,839 --> 00:51:56,319
But what Scally has said that
he's recommending is,

972
00:51:56,360 --> 00:51:58,879
not only a board to oversee
the HSE,

973
00:51:58,919 --> 00:52:02,040
he's talking about boards to oversee
individual programmes

974
00:52:02,080 --> 00:52:04,160
within the screening programmes so
that

975
00:52:04,199 --> 00:52:07,959
the CervicalCheck programme
will be overseen by a board.

976
00:52:16,480 --> 00:52:20,160
The CT and MRI department.

977
00:52:20,319 --> 00:52:21,319
So...

978
00:52:21,360 --> 00:52:22,360
# (music)

979
00:52:22,400 --> 00:52:23,400
let's go and find out.

980
00:52:24,319 --> 00:52:25,319
Fingers crossed,

981
00:52:25,760 --> 00:52:27,120
the result of this
would be good.

982
00:52:27,919 --> 00:52:28,919
Fingers crossed.

983
00:52:53,480 --> 00:52:57,680
Some of you already know, I had a
scan yesterday,

984
00:52:57,720 --> 00:53:00,400
we got the results today, I know
I'm emotional,

985
00:53:00,440 --> 00:53:01,760
it's but in a good
way.

986
00:53:01,800 --> 00:53:04,959
There a significant shrinkage of my
tumours.

987
00:53:05,000 --> 00:53:08,080
(cheering and applause)

988
00:53:18,360 --> 00:53:23,080
Enjoy the free bar, they are the best
band in the fucking world.

989
00:53:23,120 --> 00:53:24,720
(laughter, cheering and applause)

990
00:53:53,919 --> 00:53:56,520
Are you comfortable with where we're
at now at this stage,

991
00:53:56,560 --> 00:53:59,520
since Gabriel undertook his report?
I am, though I think

992
00:53:59,560 --> 00:54:02,200
there's obviously no room for
complacency. Mm-hmm.

993
00:54:02,400 --> 00:54:04,319
I think it's good
that what he said today.

994
00:54:04,400 --> 00:54:06,120
Is that most of the actions are
on track,

995
00:54:06,160 --> 00:54:08,039
he said that the people are
very committed to it.

996
00:54:08,480 --> 00:54:10,400
And I think it's
really important, though,

997
00:54:10,480 --> 00:54:12,880
that the man who put in place
the recommendations is coming

998
00:54:12,959 --> 00:54:14,480
back in check and
everyone's doing it.

999
00:54:14,599 --> 00:54:17,239
So he's going to come back again in
May with another report

1000
00:54:17,279 --> 00:54:18,919
and then every six months
thereafter,

1001
00:54:18,959 --> 00:54:20,599
we're going to keep on
publishing it.

1002
00:54:20,719 --> 00:54:21,840
We've obviously a lot to do.

1003
00:54:21,919 --> 00:54:22,919
Open disclosure.

1004
00:54:22,959 --> 00:54:24,080
We need to change the
law this year.

1005
00:54:24,160 --> 00:54:25,880
I know you've been
passionate about that.

1006
00:54:27,359 --> 00:54:30,760
So the patient safety bill and
I go back to government on that

1007
00:54:30,880 --> 00:54:31,919
in the next couple of months
and we get that

1008
00:54:31,999 --> 00:54:32,999
passed this year.

1009
00:54:33,160 --> 00:54:35,679
People don't want to talk about
the bottom half of their body,

1010
00:54:35,719 --> 00:54:38,319
you know? It's sad and I think it
goes back to being Irish.

1011
00:54:38,359 --> 00:54:40,480
We're very kind of... you know.
Being oppressed.

1012
00:54:40,520 --> 00:54:41,760
Oppressed and
ashamed about talking.

1013
00:54:41,840 --> 00:54:44,080
And that's why I was I made the
decision fairly early on.

1014
00:54:44,160 --> 00:54:45,760
I was going to talk about it
because I thought, well,

1015
00:54:45,840 --> 00:54:47,160
if I do, other people
might think,

1016
00:54:47,200 --> 00:54:48,319
"Well, I'm not on
my own here.

1017
00:54:48,359 --> 00:54:50,319
I'm having the same problems, you
know,

1018
00:54:50,359 --> 00:54:52,120
because the whole kind of intimate

1019
00:54:52,160 --> 00:54:54,999
relationship and with any type of
gyny cancer, you know

1020
00:54:55,039 --> 00:54:57,279
up to 50 percent of marriages break
down

1021
00:54:57,319 --> 00:54:59,520
with a gyny cancer diagnosis.
Yeah.

1022
00:54:59,560 --> 00:55:01,200
So, I mean,
it's huge, you know.

1023
00:55:01,279 --> 00:55:04,319
So there's definitely stuff that we
can do for... for women

1024
00:55:04,359 --> 00:55:06,359
with cervical cancer in general as
well.

1025
00:55:06,400 --> 00:55:07,480
And I took
that away from that.

1026
00:55:07,599 --> 00:55:09,840
So we're going to set up a
we're going to set up a group

1027
00:55:09,999 --> 00:55:12,599
to look at the whole
issue of fertility and IVF.

1028
00:55:12,639 --> 00:55:15,160
Lymphedema is another issue
that came up.

1029
00:55:15,279 --> 00:55:16,359
And that was something I wasn't...

1030
00:55:16,400 --> 00:55:18,279
because I suppose I don't
have that, you know.

1031
00:55:18,319 --> 00:55:19,400
But I realised there was a lot

1032
00:55:19,440 --> 00:55:20,440
of women in the group who did.

1033
00:55:20,480 --> 00:55:22,279
But actually the
emotional side.

1034
00:55:22,599 --> 00:55:26,639
There's nobody you know... there's
no support there for that.

1035
00:55:26,800 --> 00:55:29,039
# (music)

1036
00:55:29,359 --> 00:55:31,679
We are trying to push this
through to get access to

1037
00:55:31,760 --> 00:55:35,599
Pembrolizumab for all women
with advanced cervical cancer,

1038
00:55:35,719 --> 00:55:37,919
or stage four cervical cancer,

1039
00:55:37,959 --> 00:55:40,840
because cervical cancer is
not curable.

1040
00:55:41,440 --> 00:55:43,440
It affects primarily young women.

1041
00:55:43,480 --> 00:55:46,200
And, you know, two ladies that I had
campaigning

1042
00:55:46,239 --> 00:55:48,440
yesterday with me for
this.

1043
00:55:48,480 --> 00:55:51,800
Who are trying to get access to this.
One of them is 33, Tracey,

1044
00:55:52,279 --> 00:55:56,120
and she has a three year
old child. Aine Morgan,

1045
00:55:56,160 --> 00:55:58,480
the other lady who was sitting
beside me yesterday,

1046
00:55:58,520 --> 00:56:00,400
is from Loughrea in Galway,

1047
00:56:00,440 --> 00:56:03,359
and she's like, my age, actually,
she's 44.

1048
00:56:03,800 --> 00:56:08,120
Morally, I could not accept
that this drug was being made

1049
00:56:08,160 --> 00:56:11,239
available to me and meanwhile,
these two women sitting.

1050
00:56:11,279 --> 00:56:12,440
beside me are not

1051
00:56:12,800 --> 00:56:15,919
being able to access
it unless they pay for it.

1052
00:56:16,400 --> 00:56:18,880
Obviously the story broke at
the time,

1053
00:56:18,919 --> 00:56:21,719
and the HSE decided to
pay for it for her.

1054
00:56:21,880 --> 00:56:24,080
With the way this
story developed,

1055
00:56:24,120 --> 00:56:28,080
we ended up in a very inequitable
situation because we had

1056
00:56:28,120 --> 00:56:31,919
a group of women who could be
treated with pembrolizumab

1057
00:56:31,959 --> 00:56:34,800
if they had been on the screening
program.

1058
00:56:35,599 --> 00:56:38,560
And yet we had a group of women
with the same disease who

1059
00:56:38,639 --> 00:56:41,080
weren't on the screening program,
who couldn't get the drug.

1060
00:56:41,160 --> 00:56:44,319
And that clearly is
is not right.

1061
00:56:45,279 --> 00:56:47,679
You either deny to everyone, or
you are you allow everyone.

1062
00:56:48,239 --> 00:56:52,039
Vicky did a huge amount of research
and has found that there is a drug

1063
00:56:52,080 --> 00:56:54,560
that she's taking that she wants
other women

1064
00:56:54,599 --> 00:56:56,400
in the similar situation
to have.

1065
00:56:57,200 --> 00:57:01,160
And, you know, given the mistakes
that have been made,

1066
00:57:01,200 --> 00:57:05,999
given the, you know, the undervaluing
of women's health in our system,

1067
00:57:06,039 --> 00:57:08,440
I hope she succeeds
in her campaign.

1068
00:57:08,639 --> 00:57:11,319
(chatter)

1069
00:57:15,760 --> 00:57:19,639
We would still encourage people to go
for their smears,

1070
00:57:19,679 --> 00:57:22,160
and to continue going to their
doctor,

1071
00:57:22,200 --> 00:57:24,719
particularly if you have
symptoms.

1072
00:57:24,999 --> 00:57:27,279
And I know the children here in
the audience, so I won't start

1073
00:57:27,319 --> 00:57:28,639
talking too much
about vaginas.

1074
00:57:28,719 --> 00:57:30,319
But, you know...
(laughter)

1075
00:57:30,359 --> 00:57:32,239
..at the same time, you know,
we have to

1076
00:57:32,480 --> 00:57:35,279
normalize the conversations
about these type of

1077
00:57:35,359 --> 00:57:37,880
cancers because, you know,
not everybody is going to get

1078
00:57:37,959 --> 00:57:39,639
the nice cancer,
you know, breast cancer is...

1079
00:57:39,679 --> 00:57:42,080
you know, people like breasts,

1080
00:57:42,120 --> 00:57:43,639
and they're okay to talk about.

1081
00:57:43,679 --> 00:57:45,919
But nobody talks about their
vaginas or their penises,

1082
00:57:45,959 --> 00:57:46,959
do you know what I mean?
(laughter)

1083
00:57:46,999 --> 00:57:48,760
But at the end of
the day, we all have them.

1084
00:57:48,800 --> 00:57:52,800
And, you know, this is why I am
as graphic, and as open,

1085
00:57:52,840 --> 00:57:56,800
and talking about this as I can,
because I'm very acutely aware

1086
00:57:56,840 --> 00:57:59,200
that there are young girls and
young boys here today,

1087
00:57:59,239 --> 00:58:02,160
who are hopefully going to have
the HPV vaccine

1088
00:58:02,200 --> 00:58:04,919
and that we'll be looking at a
situation in 40 to 50 years

1089
00:58:04,959 --> 00:58:06,999
time where we will not have
cervical cancer.

1090
00:58:07,400 --> 00:58:09,639
I also saw the report today that she
was at

1091
00:58:09,679 --> 00:58:13,120
the Young Scientist Exhibition,
if you like, on the positive side.

1092
00:58:13,359 --> 00:58:18,440
And I gather there were a number of
the exhibits

1093
00:58:18,480 --> 00:58:20,160
to do with cervical cancer.

1094
00:58:20,200 --> 00:58:21,200
That is wonderful.

1095
00:58:25,520 --> 00:58:28,480
Well, we asked about... here.

1096
00:58:28,959 --> 00:58:31,239
If you had a 13
year old daughter.

1097
00:58:31,279 --> 00:58:33,400
11 to 13?
Yeah.

1098
00:58:33,440 --> 00:58:36,959
Would you allow her to get it?
Still... 25 percent said no.

1099
00:58:38,080 --> 00:58:41,719
If it wasn't for Vicky, myself and
Lorraine shouting from the rooftops

1100
00:58:41,760 --> 00:58:44,400
to people to keep going, getting
their smears done,

1101
00:58:44,440 --> 00:58:46,999
that we want to find out
everything that was wrong.

1102
00:58:47,080 --> 00:58:48,480
What's going wrong with the
system,

1103
00:58:48,520 --> 00:58:51,080
and exposing the truth
so it can be fixed.

1104
00:58:51,359 --> 00:58:52,719
God only knows where
we be today.

1105
00:58:53,200 --> 00:58:55,679
We're really lucky that the
cervical screening program will

1106
00:58:55,760 --> 00:58:58,999
be shifting to a much more reliable
process of

1107
00:58:59,080 --> 00:59:03,999
HPV testing, virus testing, the
cells which will remove that

1108
00:59:04,080 --> 00:59:05,440
human error element.

1109
00:59:06,160 --> 00:59:09,999
The most important thing I did
this week was signing the

1110
00:59:10,039 --> 00:59:13,120
consent form for Amelia
to have the HPV vaccine.

1111
00:59:13,520 --> 00:59:19,319
And this vaccine wasn't around when
I was old enough to have it.

1112
00:59:19,359 --> 00:59:25,120
So, you know, it's a big thing for
me really to be able to sign

1113
00:59:25,200 --> 00:59:26,560
the consent form for
my own daughter.

1114
00:59:28,120 --> 00:59:30,959
The second reason is so
important is because I didn't

1115
00:59:31,039 --> 00:59:32,080
think I'd be here to sign it.

1116
00:59:32,359 --> 00:59:35,760
You know, that's a biggie
for me, you know?

1117
00:59:37,359 --> 00:59:39,039
Because I knew it would come
when she was starting

1118
00:59:39,120 --> 00:59:43,359
secondary school, and
back in January,

1119
00:59:43,400 --> 00:59:46,120
I didn't know if I
would be here.

1120
00:59:46,239 --> 00:59:49,160
So it really meant that to
be here, to do that myself.

1121
01:00:25,120 --> 01:00:26,120
Oh, my God.

1122
01:00:27,840 --> 01:00:29,319
Fabulous.

1123
01:00:38,160 --> 01:00:41,599
She's also been campaigning
with all her efforts to make

1124
01:00:41,679 --> 01:00:43,959
sure nothing like this
ever happens again.

1125
01:00:43,999 --> 01:00:46,639
Please be upstanding for our
very special recognition Woman

1126
01:00:46,719 --> 01:00:48,959
of the year, Vicky Phelan.
(applause)

1127
01:00:57,840 --> 01:01:00,480
I didn't choose this public
person I have become.

1128
01:01:00,919 --> 01:01:03,080
I was quite
happy being anonymous.

1129
01:01:03,160 --> 01:01:06,239
And, you know,
a mammy at home.

1130
01:01:06,319 --> 01:01:09,440
What drives me to continue
campaigning is my 13 year

1131
01:01:09,520 --> 01:01:10,639
old daughter, Amelia.

1132
01:01:11,440 --> 01:01:13,359
I never want to
see this happen to her.

1133
01:01:13,840 --> 01:01:16,160
I never want to see it happen
to another woman in Ireland.

1134
01:01:16,239 --> 01:01:19,120
And I will continue campaigning
until we have a screening

1135
01:01:19,200 --> 01:01:20,319
program that we can trust.

1136
01:01:21,160 --> 01:01:22,160
# (music)

1137
01:01:38,319 --> 01:01:41,319
I've just been at the anniversary
mass of a Emma Kearns.

1138
01:01:41,359 --> 01:01:43,599
Peter reached out to me less
than six weeks after

1139
01:01:43,639 --> 01:01:44,639
his wife died.

1140
01:01:45,120 --> 01:01:48,520
I got onto the drug that I'm on,
pembrolizumab,

1141
01:01:48,560 --> 01:01:51,120
and Emma had been on that
drug, too.

1142
01:01:51,279 --> 01:01:52,599
It was the last
drug she was on.

1143
01:01:52,719 --> 01:01:54,639
She had had two
doses just before she died.

1144
01:01:54,919 --> 01:01:57,880
Peter mentioned that this was a
drug that may work for me.

1145
01:01:58,120 --> 01:01:59,319
I was sitting there thinking,

1146
01:01:59,359 --> 01:02:01,239
Well, I have this woman to
thank for my life.

1147
01:02:02,679 --> 01:02:03,760
So, I mean, that's a big one.

1148
01:02:03,840 --> 01:02:04,840
So thank you, Emma.

1149
01:02:07,120 --> 01:02:08,120
Thank you.

1150
01:02:59,319 --> 01:03:01,319
Their lawyers said the
case had been extremely

1151
01:03:01,359 --> 01:03:03,239
traumatic for Mrs Morrissey.

1152
01:03:03,279 --> 01:03:06,359
She was told she could have
less than a year to live after

1153
01:03:06,400 --> 01:03:08,679
being diagnosed with a
recurrence of her cervical

1154
01:03:08,719 --> 01:03:09,800
cancer in February.

1155
01:03:15,840 --> 01:03:18,080
The Taoiseach has promised me
that he meant what he said.

1156
01:03:18,160 --> 01:03:22,359
The State is going to endeavor to
settle all case through mediation.

1157
01:03:22,400 --> 01:03:24,800
If mediation doesn't work, and
labs are contesting,

1158
01:03:24,880 --> 01:03:28,200
an alternative dispute resolution
mechanism will be sculpted out.

1159
01:03:28,239 --> 01:03:30,840
Judge Meahan has been approached
and will work on an

1160
01:03:30,880 --> 01:03:33,279
alternative approach to
what is currently happening

1161
01:03:33,319 --> 01:03:34,480
in the case of Ruth Morrissey.

1162
01:03:34,880 --> 01:03:39,400
# (music)

1163
01:03:50,400 --> 01:03:54,200
Yeah, I'm living my life as if
I'm going to be here.

1164
01:03:54,239 --> 01:03:56,999
You know, I'm not living my
life as if I'm going to die.

1165
01:04:01,239 --> 01:04:03,319
You have to think
that things will get better.

1166
01:04:13,719 --> 01:04:15,560
Very, very quiet hospital,

1167
01:04:15,599 --> 01:04:18,999
which is nice actually from the
usual manicness.

1168
01:04:20,480 --> 01:04:22,599
I'm up for my CT scan.

1169
01:04:22,639 --> 01:04:25,120
So this is my second
scan since I started on

1170
01:04:25,160 --> 01:04:26,200
the immunotherapy drug.

1171
01:04:28,080 --> 01:04:33,919
I suppose the reality of what
may lie ahead of me if the scan

1172
01:04:33,999 --> 01:04:37,880
doesn't show any improvement or
worse if it shows that my

1173
01:04:37,959 --> 01:04:38,959
tumours are growing

1174
01:04:40,520 --> 01:04:43,440
was unfortunately brought home
to me actually this morning...

1175
01:04:45,359 --> 01:04:46,359
on my way up here,

1176
01:04:47,480 --> 01:04:48,639
one of the women...

1177
01:04:50,880 --> 01:04:56,319
Julie... I only picked up the message
when I literally parked the car.

1178
01:04:57,760 --> 01:04:59,480
And she had a stroke.

1179
01:04:59,679 --> 01:05:05,760
She stroke last night, so she's
paralysed, and can't talk.

1180
01:05:08,120 --> 01:05:12,239
My second scan hasn't shown any
significant reductions in my tumours.

1181
01:05:12,279 --> 01:05:14,880
Stability is good when you're
terminally ill

1182
01:05:14,919 --> 01:05:16,359
with a cancer like
mine.

1183
01:05:18,520 --> 01:05:21,279
Julie, Julie O'Reilly died.

1184
01:05:23,120 --> 01:05:25,719
And now Emma Mhic Mahuna has
died on Sunday morning.

1185
01:05:25,760 --> 01:05:27,239
That's two more.

1186
01:05:27,279 --> 01:05:28,400
So now we're up to 20.

1187
01:05:28,480 --> 01:05:31,359
You know, this just gets
worse and worse.

1188
01:05:35,919 --> 01:05:36,919
Very scary.

1189
01:05:37,520 --> 01:05:39,279
So I really have to pull
myself together,

1190
01:05:39,319 --> 01:05:40,719
now before I go home
to the kids.

1191
01:05:42,080 --> 01:05:43,080
But, em...

1192
01:05:45,440 --> 01:05:47,520
We'll fight on.

1193
01:05:49,999 --> 01:05:50,999
# (sombre music)

1194
01:06:20,080 --> 01:06:21,359
It's frightening when you look at it,
isn't it?

1195
01:06:21,400 --> 01:06:24,080
I think when you see the numbers
down on paper,

1196
01:06:24,959 --> 01:06:27,440
and we see the women that
are gone...

1197
01:06:27,480 --> 01:06:30,080
Bearing in mind this
doesn't actually

1198
01:06:30,160 --> 01:06:33,039
reflect Emma Mhic Mhathúna and Julie
O'Reilly

1199
01:06:33,080 --> 01:06:36,760
because they were still alive
when I got this document.

1200
01:06:38,239 --> 01:06:39,440
Which is even more frightening.

1201
01:06:39,480 --> 01:06:42,760
So the fact that she was 18
women dead,

1202
01:06:42,800 --> 01:06:43,999
it doesn't actually show 20.

1203
01:06:45,279 --> 01:06:48,160
For many, this was the first
opportunity to come together.

1204
01:06:48,200 --> 01:06:53,840
For others, the last few months have
been spent campaigning for answers.

1205
01:06:54,400 --> 01:06:56,679
Often people ask me, you know,
you're terminally ill,

1206
01:06:56,719 --> 01:07:00,999
you know, how are you not,
you know, crying, and sad,

1207
01:07:01,359 --> 01:07:03,279
you know, how are
you doing what you're doing?

1208
01:07:03,359 --> 01:07:05,919
Well, I can only explain it
that I have this new sense of

1209
01:07:05,959 --> 01:07:09,639
purpose and I want to leave a
legacy behind if I do die.

1210
01:07:09,760 --> 01:07:11,919
And I certainly don't think I'm
going anywhere any time yet.

1211
01:07:12,440 --> 01:07:17,440
The HSE has identified 221
women affected by

1212
01:07:17,520 --> 01:07:19,200
the CervicalCheck controversy.

1213
01:07:19,679 --> 01:07:22,800
Today's meeting provided some
of them, and their families,

1214
01:07:22,840 --> 01:07:25,359
with information and advice.

1215
01:07:25,639 --> 01:07:29,200
The cervical scandal,
it's ripped families apart.

1216
01:07:29,239 --> 01:07:30,319
Mothers have been buried.

1217
01:07:30,359 --> 01:07:32,760
We saw Emma Mhic Mahuna, in the
last couple of days,

1218
01:07:32,800 --> 01:07:35,279
being buried as well.
Five children left behind.

1219
01:07:35,359 --> 01:07:36,440
Nobody wants to see that.

1220
01:07:36,520 --> 01:07:38,440
So this was why we're
advocating to try and prevent

1221
01:07:38,679 --> 01:07:40,160
that from happening as
much as possible.

1222
01:07:40,719 --> 01:07:43,800
Cervical cancer campaigner
Vicky Phelan has said that

1223
01:07:43,840 --> 01:07:46,840
the crisis exposed a
disrespect for women.

1224
01:07:47,440 --> 01:07:49,880
I would never have thought,
I suppose myself

1225
01:07:49,919 --> 01:07:53,599
before I exposed all of this, that
there was a kind of an underlying,

1226
01:07:53,639 --> 01:07:56,319
almost a disrespect for women,
and women's health care,

1227
01:07:56,359 --> 01:07:59,279
when it comes to to our bodies.

1228
01:07:59,440 --> 01:08:01,719
And a lot of women have
contacted me with horror

1229
01:08:01,840 --> 01:08:04,480
stories about some of the
things their gynecologists have

1230
01:08:04,520 --> 01:08:07,160
said to them when they've had
smears,

1231
01:08:07,279 --> 01:08:09,319
or even after
having their babies.

1232
01:08:09,400 --> 01:08:11,679
In his cervical check
inquiry report,

1233
01:08:11,719 --> 01:08:13,319
Dr. Gabriel Scally cited
these women's experiences.

1234
01:08:13,359 --> 01:08:17,440
They went in for their
disclosure meeting,

1235
01:08:17,480 --> 01:08:26,160
and the consultant said several times
about the late woman's smoking habit

1236
01:08:27,520 --> 01:08:33,880
and also told them that nuns don't
get cervical cancer.

1237
01:08:34,279 --> 01:08:37,599
Now, if that isn't paternalism...

1238
01:08:37,639 --> 01:08:38,679
it's verging on misogyny, isn't it?

1239
01:08:39,120 --> 01:08:42,319
On behalf of Waterford Institute
of Technology Community,

1240
01:08:42,359 --> 01:08:44,760
it is my very great pleasure to
welcome you

1241
01:08:44,800 --> 01:08:47,440
for the awarding of the
WIT Honorary Fellowship

1242
01:08:47,679 --> 01:08:48,679
to Vicky Phelan.

1243
01:08:48,880 --> 01:08:49,880
(applause)

1244
01:08:53,039 --> 01:08:55,520
We now know that the CervicalCheck
screening program

1245
01:08:55,560 --> 01:08:56,760
was doomed to fail.

1246
01:08:57,039 --> 01:08:58,039
It failed me.

1247
01:08:58,719 --> 01:09:00,880
It failed 20 women
and families...

1248
01:09:07,880 --> 01:09:11,480
who lost their wives, mothers,
daughters and friends.

1249
01:09:14,319 --> 01:09:17,239
It failed the 201 other women
who, like me,

1250
01:09:17,279 --> 01:09:20,679
were misdiagnosed, and who are now
either fighting to stay alive

1251
01:09:20,719 --> 01:09:23,480
or battling horrendous side effects
of treatment

1252
01:09:23,520 --> 01:09:26,919
that may not have been necessary
had the cancer been detected earlier.

1253
01:09:27,560 --> 01:09:32,520
I am up here for number ten
of pembrolizumab.

1254
01:09:32,560 --> 01:09:34,239
So I'm in double
digits now at this stage.

1255
01:09:35,279 --> 01:09:36,639
It's four days
before my birthday.

1256
01:09:36,719 --> 01:09:40,440
I'm going to be 44 on Sunday. I was
wondering if I'd even make it,

1257
01:09:40,480 --> 01:09:42,200
to be honest, at the start of the
year.

1258
01:09:42,319 --> 01:09:44,959
So I say that's one thing to
celebrate on Sunday,

1259
01:09:44,999 --> 01:09:45,999
is to still be here.

1260
01:09:46,039 --> 01:09:47,719
And still be so very well.

1261
01:09:47,760 --> 01:09:56,679
# Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you.

1262
01:09:56,719 --> 01:10:06,400
# Happy Birthday dear Mammy,
Happy Birthday to you. #

1263
01:10:08,520 --> 01:10:10,599
(cheering)

1264
01:10:10,919 --> 01:10:13,400
# For she's a jolly good fellow... #
No? Okay.

1265
01:10:13,440 --> 01:10:14,440
(laughter)

1266
01:10:26,919 --> 01:10:28,560
That's pretty cool.

1267
01:10:28,599 --> 01:10:29,599
I like the teeth.

1268
01:10:31,919 --> 01:10:32,919
That's pretty good.

1269
01:10:33,599 --> 01:10:34,719
Bit of an artist there.

1270
01:10:35,319 --> 01:10:36,400
All right, Amelia,
show me yours.

1271
01:10:36,560 --> 01:10:37,560
I haven't started yet.

1272
01:10:37,599 --> 01:10:39,440
Amelia hasn't started yet.
Okay, let's get over here.

1273
01:10:39,480 --> 01:10:40,480
Darragh.

1274
01:10:40,719 --> 01:10:41,959
Show me your pumpkin.

1275
01:10:42,760 --> 01:10:44,039
Oooooh, that's a scary one.

1276
01:10:44,639 --> 01:10:46,440
Like from Goosebumps,
isn't it?

1277
01:10:46,480 --> 01:10:47,480
Yeah.

1278
01:10:47,520 --> 01:10:48,520
(applause)

1279
01:10:54,999 --> 01:10:58,319
To think that what I did for
myself is now going to be made

1280
01:10:58,359 --> 01:11:00,840
available to other women across
the country with cervical

1281
01:11:00,880 --> 01:11:04,239
cancer is just the best
Christmas present that I

1282
01:11:04,279 --> 01:11:06,160
can give, to
be honest, this year.

1283
01:11:06,999 --> 01:11:09,840
I just checked my phone before
I came in here and Simon Harris

1284
01:11:09,919 --> 01:11:12,400
has just announced that he will
be extending that drug

1285
01:11:13,120 --> 01:11:15,080
to all the other women.

1286
01:11:20,840 --> 01:11:24,760
Okay, Darragh this is December 2018.

1287
01:11:24,919 --> 01:11:26,400
It's only about four
days to Christmas.

1288
01:11:27,039 --> 01:11:28,840
Four, yeah.
Four days to Christmas.

1289
01:11:28,880 --> 01:11:29,999
Sit up on the chair.

1290
01:11:30,080 --> 01:11:32,560
So tell us, what do you want of
Santa this Christmas?

1291
01:11:32,599 --> 01:11:35,959
A PS4 Pro and Match Attax.
Uh-huh.

1292
01:11:36,200 --> 01:11:39,679
And my surprises I want is
monopoly,

1293
01:11:39,719 --> 01:11:43,239
and my mam to get very,
very better.

1294
01:11:43,959 --> 01:11:45,639
What do you mean, your mom to get
very, very better?

1295
01:11:46,160 --> 01:11:49,719
Never have cancer again.
That would be a brilliant surprise,

1296
01:11:49,760 --> 01:11:50,840
wouldn't it?
Yeah.

1297
01:11:50,919 --> 01:11:53,039
Yeah. Do you think Santa could do
something like that?

1298
01:11:53,319 --> 01:11:54,319
Maybe.

1299
01:11:54,400 --> 01:11:55,999
Yeah, we hope so, don't we?

1300
01:11:56,319 --> 01:11:57,319
Yeah.

1301
01:11:57,679 --> 01:11:58,959
You looking forward to
Christmas Darragh?

1302
01:11:59,359 --> 01:12:00,359
Yeah.

1303
01:12:00,679 --> 01:12:02,800
Okay. Anything else you want to
say about Christmas?

1304
01:12:03,520 --> 01:12:05,440
Eh, I love Christmas.

1305
01:12:06,440 --> 01:12:09,760
And I really want my
mam to get better and never

1306
01:12:09,840 --> 01:12:10,840
have cancer again.

1307
01:12:12,039 --> 01:12:13,039
Thanks, Darragh.

1308
01:12:13,959 --> 01:12:14,959
I love you, buddy.

1309
01:12:15,560 --> 01:12:16,840
I love you too.

1310
01:12:17,560 --> 01:12:19,400
# (music)

1311
01:12:27,679 --> 01:12:29,999
It's now January 2019.

1312
01:12:30,639 --> 01:12:33,840
It's 12 months since I was
given a 6 to 12

1313
01:12:33,919 --> 01:12:38,080
month prognosis, and I'm still
here against all odds,

1314
01:12:38,400 --> 01:12:42,679
against my 6 to 12 months prognosis,
and against all medical advice.

1315
01:12:43,359 --> 01:12:44,359
I'm still here.

1316
01:12:54,080 --> 01:12:56,599
I've been sick. I've been
battling infections for the last...

1317
01:12:57,279 --> 01:12:58,800
Jesus, for six weeks,

1318
01:12:58,840 --> 01:13:01,239
I've had maybe two weeks in
between both illnesses.

1319
01:13:01,359 --> 01:13:03,039
And this is where
I have to get sick.

1320
01:13:03,639 --> 01:13:06,599
I just feel like I'm just worn
out being sick,

1321
01:13:06,639 --> 01:13:08,800
really, at this stage and I'm in bad
form.

1322
01:13:28,560 --> 01:13:31,359
I was talking to Jim this morning,

1323
01:13:31,400 --> 01:13:34,520
and Darragh hasn't spoken to me
since I got in here.

1324
01:13:34,560 --> 01:13:36,959
He won't talk to me,
because he's pissed off

1325
01:13:37,039 --> 01:13:38,840
and he's angry and I'm
not there.

1326
01:13:38,880 --> 01:13:45,719
My poor little boy just wants me
home.

1327
01:13:45,760 --> 01:13:46,760
But you are going home.

1328
01:13:46,800 --> 01:13:47,800
Yeah.

1329
01:13:50,160 --> 01:13:52,760
I didn't think I'd be in this
position because our Taoiseach

1330
01:13:52,840 --> 01:13:55,639
told us that none of us would
have to go through this.

1331
01:13:56,319 --> 01:13:59,440
But unfortunately, I'm the one
who had to.

1332
01:14:00,039 --> 01:14:03,560
Ruth Morrissey's case, that
of Ruth and Paul Morrissey,

1333
01:14:04,080 --> 01:14:05,239
that was treated differently.

1334
01:14:05,679 --> 01:14:09,400
And for whatever reason,
the defendant laboratory's

1335
01:14:09,679 --> 01:14:13,200
Quest to MED LAB and the HSE
decided that they were going to

1336
01:14:13,279 --> 01:14:15,999
defend that case and fight
right to the end.

1337
01:14:16,639 --> 01:14:20,999
That became a 37 day trial,
the longest medical negligence

1338
01:14:21,039 --> 01:14:24,039
trial in Irish legal history.

1339
01:14:24,160 --> 01:14:26,560
There's a family, there's a woman at
the centre of this case.

1340
01:14:26,599 --> 01:14:27,800
How's she doing at the moment?

1341
01:14:27,999 --> 01:14:29,359
And not well
is a short answer.

1342
01:14:29,440 --> 01:14:31,999
A statement was released to us
by Cian O'Carroll Solicitors,

1343
01:14:32,080 --> 01:14:33,880
which represents the
Morrissey family,

1344
01:14:33,919 --> 01:14:35,919
and it says that Ms. Morrissey's
health

1345
01:14:35,959 --> 01:14:38,440
has deteriorated rapidly since the
High Court judgment,

1346
01:14:38,480 --> 01:14:39,560
and that
was only at the beginning

1347
01:14:39,880 --> 01:14:40,880
of last month.

1348
01:14:41,039 --> 01:14:43,679
And it says that Ms Morrissey
spent the past five weeks

1349
01:14:43,719 --> 01:14:44,919
at a hospice in Limerick.

1350
01:14:44,959 --> 01:14:48,800
The reaction to the High Court
decision in Ruth Morrissey's

1351
01:14:48,880 --> 01:14:51,039
case was
really quite extraordinary.

1352
01:14:51,400 --> 01:14:55,359
There was an immediate and
violent reaction

1353
01:14:55,400 --> 01:14:59,719
from the medical and the screening
community and it received a lot

1354
01:14:59,760 --> 01:15:00,999
of coverage in the media.

1355
01:15:01,520 --> 01:15:04,800
Basically the argument was that
the standard that was being now

1356
01:15:04,840 --> 01:15:09,760
imposed on medicine in Ireland
was an unacceptably high one.

1357
01:15:10,279 --> 01:15:13,400
Even though this is the exact
standard which is applied in

1358
01:15:13,440 --> 01:15:17,480
Northern Ireland and across the
UK for 21 years now,

1359
01:15:17,520 --> 01:15:19,239
20 years prior to that judgement.

1360
01:15:19,760 --> 01:15:25,120
And yet the HSE, and its
surrogates, were arguing that

1361
01:15:25,200 --> 01:15:28,520
a lesser standard should apply in
Ireland and that a woman in

1362
01:15:28,560 --> 01:15:32,039
Dundalk should receive a lesser
standard of care in cervical

1363
01:15:32,080 --> 01:15:33,760
screening than a woman
in Newry.

1364
01:15:34,319 --> 01:15:35,319
And that couldn't be right.

1365
01:15:36,160 --> 01:15:37,400
And that's what the High
Court had said.

1366
01:15:37,639 --> 01:15:40,520
It said this is a logical
standard and all it is saying

1367
01:15:40,760 --> 01:15:43,840
is that if the screener has
a doubt, when it looks down the

1368
01:15:43,919 --> 01:15:48,919
microscope and sees cells which
may or may not be normal,

1369
01:15:48,959 --> 01:15:51,599
he or she cannot pass that slide
as being normal.

1370
01:15:51,919 --> 01:15:54,520
They must pass it to
a doctor to then make

1371
01:15:54,639 --> 01:15:55,639
a final determination.

1372
01:15:55,760 --> 01:15:57,319
That is all that
the standard says.

1373
01:15:57,679 --> 01:16:00,239
President Michael D Higgins has
led tributes to the

1374
01:16:00,279 --> 01:16:01,599
CervicalCheck campaigner

1375
01:16:01,679 --> 01:16:04,520
Ruth Morrissey, who has died at
the age of 39.

1376
01:16:04,560 --> 01:16:07,760
Fellow campaigner Vicky Phelan
paid tribute to her friend

1377
01:16:07,840 --> 01:16:11,279
on Twitter, describing her as
one of the strongest and most

1378
01:16:11,319 --> 01:16:12,800
positive women she knew.

1379
01:16:14,639 --> 01:16:16,959
The main legal legacy there
for that case,

1380
01:16:17,319 --> 01:16:20,080
and as we say, that traces
right back to Vicky and Jim

1381
01:16:20,160 --> 01:16:24,480
Phelan's case was that in the
first place the State was

1382
01:16:24,560 --> 01:16:26,880
forced to acknowledge,
the HSE was forced to

1383
01:16:26,919 --> 01:16:30,480
acknowledge that it did have
primary responsibility for the

1384
01:16:30,560 --> 01:16:32,319
running of its own entities.

1385
01:16:33,279 --> 01:16:36,440
The consequences of that not
being the case, I think,

1386
01:16:36,520 --> 01:16:39,880
would have been wholesale
outsourcing of medical services

1387
01:16:39,999 --> 01:16:43,120
within the public health system
in Ireland to avoid liability

1388
01:16:43,160 --> 01:16:44,160
by the state.

1389
01:16:45,120 --> 01:16:49,359
From an overall view on
cervical screening, the Supreme

1390
01:16:49,400 --> 01:16:54,039
Court gave clarity on what the
test is to be applied in every

1391
01:16:54,080 --> 01:16:55,520
other case arising from
CervicalCheck.

1392
01:16:56,200 --> 01:16:58,560
We are sorry for the failures of
clinical governance.

1393
01:16:59,319 --> 01:17:01,480
Sorry for the failures of leadership
and management.

1394
01:17:02,599 --> 01:17:04,919
Sorry for the failure to tell the
whole truth

1395
01:17:04,959 --> 01:17:06,840
and to do so in
a timely manner.

1396
01:17:08,080 --> 01:17:10,999
Sorry for the humiliation,
the disrespect and deceit.

1397
01:17:12,080 --> 01:17:14,800
We apologise to those who
survived and still bears

1398
01:17:14,840 --> 01:17:17,279
the scars, both physically
and mentally,

1399
01:17:17,679 --> 01:17:18,760
as do their families.

1400
01:17:19,359 --> 01:17:21,840
We apologise to our wives,
our daughters, our sisters,

1401
01:17:21,880 --> 01:17:23,400
and our mothers.

1402
01:17:23,440 --> 01:17:27,160
To the men who lost the centre
of their lives and every day

1403
01:17:27,279 --> 01:17:29,359
have to pick up the pieces.

1404
01:17:29,440 --> 01:17:32,400
Today's apology is offered to
all the people the state let

1405
01:17:32,480 --> 01:17:35,719
down and to their families who
paid the price for those

1406
01:17:35,800 --> 01:17:36,800
failings as well.

1407
01:17:37,760 --> 01:17:41,120
A broken service,
broken promises, broken lives,

1408
01:17:41,719 --> 01:17:43,840
a debacle that left
a country heartbroken.

1409
01:17:44,639 --> 01:17:46,359
A system that was
doomed to fail.

1410
01:17:49,599 --> 01:17:53,679
It's always at the back of my mind
that the cancer is growing

1411
01:17:54,279 --> 01:17:55,279
in my body.

1412
01:17:57,039 --> 01:18:00,639
Pembrolizumab has given
me all of this extra time to spend

1413
01:18:00,719 --> 01:18:01,719
with my family.

1414
01:18:03,560 --> 01:18:07,080
Unfortunately, it's not working
anymore and my tumours

1415
01:18:07,120 --> 01:18:08,120
are growing again.

1416
01:18:08,639 --> 01:18:11,800
Her options in Ireland were
becoming very limited and she

1417
01:18:11,919 --> 01:18:14,560
was looking again
at palliative treatment.

1418
01:18:15,080 --> 01:18:16,400
So she went to the States.

1419
01:18:16,959 --> 01:18:17,959
# (music)

1420
01:18:27,999 --> 01:18:29,520
I had a terrible day on Sunday,

1421
01:18:29,560 --> 01:18:30,760
obviously leaving my kids.

1422
01:18:32,120 --> 01:18:34,319
That was the hardest day
of all, to be quite honest.

1423
01:18:34,719 --> 01:18:37,679
I don't think I stopped crying,
really, once I left Dublin airport.

1424
01:18:38,080 --> 01:18:39,080
Hi, everyone.

1425
01:18:40,039 --> 01:18:41,200
Happy Valentine's Day.

1426
01:18:42,039 --> 01:18:44,039
I've landed myself from
hospital,

1427
01:18:44,080 --> 01:18:47,160
I've been vomiting
for the past two days.

1428
01:18:47,200 --> 01:18:51,039
So I am one day post COVID vaccine
and two days post-treatment.

1429
01:18:51,279 --> 01:18:52,919
I am flying it.

1430
01:18:52,959 --> 01:18:57,279
So it looks like my body is
finally kind of getting used

1431
01:18:57,319 --> 01:18:58,319
to the treatments.

1432
01:18:58,480 --> 01:18:59,480
# Happy

1433
01:18:59,560 --> 01:19:02,319
# Birthday to you

1434
01:19:02,560 --> 01:19:05,080
# Happy Birthday to you... #

1435
01:19:05,200 --> 01:19:08,719
I worry about my kids and how
they're handling all of this,

1436
01:19:09,160 --> 01:19:10,959
and I know they worry
about me, too.

1437
01:19:12,160 --> 01:19:15,520
I have developed unfortunately
developed a new symptom,

1438
01:19:15,599 --> 01:19:19,400
which you can probably see.
The left hand side of my face

1439
01:19:19,480 --> 01:19:22,760
is like kind of
like temporarily paralysed.

1440
01:19:22,840 --> 01:19:25,239
So I've got this thing
called Bell's Palsy.

1441
01:19:25,279 --> 01:19:30,400
I had another scan here since
September and the tumours that

1442
01:19:30,480 --> 01:19:31,840
had grown have grown again.

1443
01:19:35,840 --> 01:19:37,359
So all my hair is gone.

1444
01:19:37,959 --> 01:19:41,599
Unfortunately, that's
after only one dose of chemo.

1445
01:19:45,679 --> 01:19:47,959
The only way I can describe it
is like hell, really,

1446
01:19:47,999 --> 01:19:48,999
to be honest.

1447
01:19:49,840 --> 01:19:52,840
So I just decided
no more chemotherapy.

1448
01:19:52,959 --> 01:19:53,959
I'll stick with the pembro

1449
01:19:55,039 --> 01:19:57,679
Probably won't, you know work

1450
01:19:58,239 --> 01:20:00,800
but it might keep me stable for
another couple of weeks.

1451
01:20:00,880 --> 01:20:01,880
And that's all I want.

1452
01:20:01,959 --> 01:20:05,400
I just want another few weeks
until Christmas to stay as

1453
01:20:05,440 --> 01:20:06,760
stable as I am at the moment.

1454
01:20:07,120 --> 01:20:09,760
I would rather my children
have memories of doing stuff

1455
01:20:09,840 --> 01:20:12,160
with me, and if I go sooner, so be
it.

1456
01:20:12,239 --> 01:20:13,239
But you know...

1457
01:20:13,760 --> 01:20:16,279
I loved... I heard that
your daughter, Amelia,

1458
01:20:17,239 --> 01:20:20,080
always the young people tend to
come out with the gems.

1459
01:20:20,480 --> 01:20:23,200
She said something along the
lines of, you know, we kind of

1460
01:20:23,279 --> 01:20:24,279
hit the jackpot.

1461
01:20:24,639 --> 01:20:28,599
I mean, in having the time
they've had with you, I mean,

1462
01:20:28,719 --> 01:20:29,719
what an attitude.

1463
01:20:29,840 --> 01:20:31,200
I mean, none of the
adults came up with that.

1464
01:20:31,239 --> 01:20:33,400
She said to me when I had the
conversation about where this

1465
01:20:33,520 --> 01:20:35,520
was going and, you know,
hopefully we get

1466
01:20:35,599 --> 01:20:36,599
another few months.

1467
01:20:36,639 --> 01:20:39,639
But the reality is that this is
not going to end well.

1468
01:20:39,760 --> 01:20:40,959
You know that I
am going to die.

1469
01:20:41,560 --> 01:20:43,400
And she just said, well,
it's just a matter of fact.

1470
01:20:43,440 --> 01:20:44,800
She's like me, you know.
Exactly.

1471
01:20:44,840 --> 01:20:46,200
She's carbon copy
like it's crazy.

1472
01:20:46,239 --> 01:20:48,440
We hop of each other
needless to say.

1473
01:20:48,480 --> 01:20:50,160
I can imagine.
But anyway, she said

1474
01:20:50,440 --> 01:20:54,200
But Mam said, sure, you've gotten
nearly four years she said on Pembro.

1475
01:20:54,239 --> 01:20:56,319
Said they told you you were
going to be gone in 6 to 12

1476
01:20:56,359 --> 01:20:57,679
months and you got
nearly four years.

1477
01:20:58,080 --> 01:20:59,080
So you see.

1478
01:21:02,080 --> 01:21:03,080
For me,

1479
01:21:03,120 --> 01:21:06,400
it all boils down to that one
decision to outsource Irish

1480
01:21:06,440 --> 01:21:09,279
women's smears to the
USA in 2008.

1481
01:21:13,120 --> 01:21:14,719
The country was in
a recession.

1482
01:21:15,599 --> 01:21:16,959
It was the cheapest option.

1483
01:21:22,719 --> 01:21:27,039
I have a message for Mna na
hEireann I hope I have fought

1484
01:21:27,120 --> 01:21:28,120
enough for your future.

1485
01:21:29,200 --> 01:21:32,880
But now it's time for you to
take the baton and stand

1486
01:21:32,919 --> 01:21:33,919
up for yourselves.

1487
01:21:34,480 --> 01:21:35,719
Question everything.

1488
01:21:37,359 --> 01:21:39,120
This fight was for you.