YOU’VE LOST THAT LIVIN’ PHELAN…
In 2011, a young Irishwoman named Vicky Phelan underwent a smear test that indicated no abnormalities. Three years later, she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. An audit unveiled the smear test was a false negative, but Phelan did not know this for another 15 months. She refused to stay quiet, and come 2018 her role as the public face of the CervicalCheck scandal revealed that over 200 women in Ireland could have avoided their terminal cancer diagnoses were it not for inaccurate smear tests. The scandal reverberated through the Irish government, and toppled the head of the HSE. She was bestowed numerous honours for her activism, and through cutting-edge drugs was able to extend a months to live prognosis in 2018 to several extra years that she made the most out of.
News in the final days of 2021 that Phelan was entering palliative care made her a near-gimme for 2022, and one that those who stumbled upon the news kept tucked under their hat. Even so, she took on cancer with the plucky tenacity she gave to the HSE, and her survival to November defied all expectations. She was 48 and an important pick in the highest echelons, including for leader David Quantick’s Showbiz Pals and runner-up Smart Beta, who is perhaps the only one who has any prayer left of an upset with the clock quickly ticking. Irish theme team The Sick-Bed of Cuchulainn hits their joker, and also gaining is The Love Boat, who had previously predicted Phelan would die six months before Deborah James. Had Phelan lived a few extra weeks, the full inverse would be true!
Vicky Phelan
28 October 1974 – 14 November 2022, aged 48
17 TEAMS (💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀 10 POINTS, 🃏 (x1) 20 POINTS)