37-Year-Old Emma Mhic Mhathúna. Source: The Independent“I shouldn’t even have had cancer and now I’m dying.”
As the fallout from the CervicalCheck test saga continues, more and more stories of heartbreak are beginning to emerge.
The latest belongs to 37-year-old Mother-of-Five Emma Mhic Mhathúna, who just yesterday found out she is suffering from terminal cancer.
The devastating news was delivered by her GP, just over a week after she was informed she was one of the 209 women caught up in the CervicalCheck scandal.
Following a smear test in 2013, Ms Mhic Mhathúna was told her results were normal. However, three years later in 2016, following a routine smear test, she was diagnosed with cervical cancer.
A HSE audit of her 2013 result showed that the first indications of cancer were in fact present in the 2013 tests.
Speaking to the Independent, Ms Mhic Mhathúna herself said: ''A chest X-ray picked it up and it’s everywhere.”
“With cervical cancer, when it comes back, it can appear anywhere.
“I had stage 2B cervical cancer, it had left the cervix and gone into the lymph-nodes and it came back everywhere.
“My poor GP, she’s a mess herself. She just hugged me. I wanted her to be the one to tell me,” she said.
Ms Mhic Mhathúna's five children, four boys aged two, six, 10 and 11, as well as her 15-year-old daughter, are understandably extremely upset by the news.
“They’re so upset...My older sons just can’t stop crying. My six-year-old asked me ‘are you going to come back mam?’”
In-action
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and his Government have drawn criticism over the whole ordeal, over a perceived lack of action on the scandal.
Ever since Limerick woman Vicky Phelan first lifted the lid on the cancer scandal two weeks ago.
''It’s annoying no one seems to be doing anything about it,'' Ms Mhic Mhathúna told the Independent.
“This could be anyone, it could be you, my daughter, anyone.
“Leo Varadkar is supposed to be taking care of all of us – that’s his job. But I don’t feel safe and he’s not doing anything about it,” she said
“Women in Ireland are dead and dying and he seems to be taking a passive role in it altogether.
CervicalCheck helpline 1800 45 45 55
This story originally appeared in the Irish Independent.
