CERVICAL check whistleblower Vicky Phelan has said she is taking a step back to spend time with family and those closest to her after being very ill following radiotherapy treatments.
Vicky posted on her Instagram account this week that she has been in Milford Hospice for the last four weeks recovering from complications from the treatment, which left her in extreme pain and feeling very sick.
She said she has had to use walking aids to get around.
“I am only now, in the past few days able to walk without either a four-wheeler or a Zimmer frame. Walking long distances is still beyond me but I hope I will get there again,” she posted on social media.
“I only finished my last session of radiotherapy last Monday and it can take a couple of weeks for the effects to be felt so I am really hoping that I will be moving around a bit more freely in a couple of weeks’ time but I am also acutely aware that I may never regain what I had.”
And she has had to row back on plans to join former RTÉ journalist Charlie Bird when he climbs Croagh Patrick next month.
“I have had to make the hard decision not to make the journey to Croagh Patrick in April for the #climbwithcharlie. I am simply not well enough either physically or mentally. The past few weeks have really knocked the stuffing out of me and I need to focus on just getting well again. I have already been in touch with Charlie and he has been great about it,” she said.
She thanked her supporters for their good wishes throughout her treatment. “I really do appreciate the support,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) is honouring Vicky Phelan, a former member of its staff, with a research position in her name.
The ‘Vicky Phelan Chair in Equality and Access to Education’ will be awarded to a member of staff for three years, following competition and includes a grant for research.
Dr Helen Murphy, who is head of WIT School of Education and Lifelong Learning, where Ms Phelan worked, said that she had “not only provided motivation and inspiration to the community of WIT, but also to the women of Ireland and, indeed, to society at large,”
