Hero campaigner Vicky named on BBC’s list of world’s 100 most inspiring women
THE BBC has included Kilkenny cervical cancer campaigner Vicky Phelan in its list of the world’s 100 inspiring and influential women for 2018.
The mother-of-two, who is from Mooncoin, came to national prominence this year for exposing the CervicalCheck screening scandal after discovering she and hundreds of other women were not told they had been given incorrect smear test results.
The BBC’s list includes women from more than 60 countries, including leaders, trailblazers and everyday heroes.
Ms Phelan featured at number 75 on the list. She was diagnosed with cancer in 2014 and launched a High Court action over her 2011 smear result which showed no abnormalities.
Being named in the BBC’s list is just the latest in a string of accolades Ms Phelan has received for her heroic campaigning on behalf of women and families caught up in the CervicalCheck controversy.
Just over a fortnight ago she was named as the overall winner of the Kilkenny People of the Year awards, which took place at the Newpark Hotel earlier this month.
The same week Ms Phelan was a guest of honour at Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT), where she received an honorary doctorate in recognition of her campaigning (pictured above by Patrick Browne).
Mr Phelan settled the case in April this year for €2.5 million against Clinical Pathology Laboratories Inc, Austin, Texas, which made the settlement without admission of liability.
