Claire Byrne
Posted by Alan Kelly on November 27, 2018 at 10:40 AM
Friends, last night I was a guest on the Claire Byrne Live show on RTÉ 1. I was a guest on the show because I have been campaigning for the drug Pembrolizumab to be made available to all women suffering from Cervical Cancer whose clinicians feel it could help them. Vicky Phelan is on this drug and it has really helped her live a good quality of life. Vicky joined me on the show last night to fight with me to get this drug made available. She did so because the Government as a result of the Cervical Check Scandal earlier this year decided to pay for her treatment and for any other women affected by the scandal. Also on the programme with us was Aine Morgan. She is from Loughrea in Galway. Another lovely lady. She also has Cervical Cancer. She wants to be on the drug and her clinician, Dr Fennelly, the same as Vicky’s, wants he on it. She feels it’s her last chance. The difference is that the Government will not pay for her treatment as she was not part of the audit scandal that Vicky was.
This isn’t acceptable to me and many more. You cannot treat two women with the same condition differently. You cannot discriminate on the basis of whether they were part of an audit or not. Aine and others like her deserve access to the best treatment she can get the very same way as Vicky!
I and others will not stop fighting to ensure this happens. I want to thank Aine for her bravery in speaking out. I also want to thank Vicky who is campaigning for other women to be treated the same way as her. It shows the type of lady she it. One of the most amazing and powerful women I have ever met.
If you get a chance please watch the programme. It’s the first item. Also, if you wouldn’t mind please share this post so that we can fight for Aine and others. We need to raise awareness of this issue and push the Government to do the right thing and treat everyone equally.
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