Vicky Phelan had been diagnosed with cancer in 2014.

Vicky Phelan has passed away at the age of 48.

She was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2014, after she had undergone a smear test in 2011 showing no abnormalities.

An internal CervicalCheck audit found the original smear check result to be wrong.

She wasn’t told about the mistake until 2017.

Her legal case against the HSE and a US laboratory exposed the CervicalCheck scandal in which hundreds of Irish women were given incorrect negative smear test results.

Vicky’s insistence at going public with her story led to the resignation of the head of CervicalCheck and ultimately lead to an inquiry into the screening programme led by Dr. Gabriel Scally.

The screening programme was published in September 2018, making fifty recommendations.

In April 2018, Vicky settled a High Court action for €2,500,000 with Clinical Pathology Labs US, without admission of liability.

The mother of two was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Limerick in 2018 and published a memoir, ‘Overcoming’ in 2019, which won the An Post Irish Book of the Year award.

Until recently, Vicky was receiving treatment in the US but had to return home for palliative chemotherapy.

She is survived by her husband Jim, and two children Amelia and Darragh.