“I have reached my goal” Vicky Phelan sees son Darragh’s 10th birthday

Phelan is currently undergoing treatment in America.

The last few weeks have had a lot of ups and downs for cervical cancer activist Vicky Phelan. In January the 47-year-old mother flew to the United States to begin a new cancer treatment only for her Instagram account to be hacked a couple of weeks later. Luckily Phelan was able to regain control of her original account but is now using a new account as she doesn't know how the other may have been tampered with. More recently Phelan has shared some positive news in that she has reached a goal she hoped she'd always reach since last year when her Pembro treatment stopped working. She has lived to see her son Darragh’s tenth birthday. https://www.instagram.com/p/CL0uUlxDN9w/   Phelan shared a video of her son celebrating his birthday and said that while she is delighted that she is still around to see him turn ten she is heartbroken not to be with him;

"So, it was my son, Darragh's 10th birthday over the weekend. My goal when Pembro stopped working last September was to make it to Darragh's 10th birthday. I have reached my goal. Maybe not the way I would have liked. I tuned in on FaceTime for the birthday cake. That's me singing Happy Birthday off key. I would have given anything to be at home to celebrate Darragh's birthday. I have NEVER missed one of my children's birthdays BUT I want to be around for Darragh's 11th and 12th birthdays and that is only possible by making the sacrifice now - coming to the States to participate on the clinical trial that I am on."

Phelan was first diagnosed with cancer in 2014 and is among the many women who received false cervical cancer results from CervicalCheck. Since her diagnosis, Phelan has been one of the leading voices defending the women and families effected by the CervicalCheck scandal.