“I want to make the women of Ireland safer” - Leona Mackin
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What was revealed by the 2018 cervical check scandal and why does it matter?
Now the cervical check scandal of 2018 revealed that 221 women had not been told that reviews of their earlier smear tests had identified missed abnormalities. It led to major scrutiny and reform of Ireland's cervical screening programme and While all that controversy was unfolding, my next guest was living her life as normal, blissfully unaware that she too would be caught up in a similar nightmare. Leona Macken, you're very welcome to the programme.
Thank you so much, Clare. It's lovely to be here. Thanks for having me.
Leona, I want to begin by asking you about Vicky Phelan. Do you remember her standing outside the High Court? Mm hmm. Yeah, I do. When that scandal emerged in 2018.
Do you remember that moment? Yeah, I do. And I remember feeling for her so much as like, you know, a mother thinking, God, how is she going to get up every morning and live her life knowing this has happened to her? And, you know, I just felt so, so sorry for her. I did follow the story and, you know, cervical cancer was something I was aware of anyway before all that. And I just thought, oh, my God, this must be such a horror story, you know, and never in a million years that I think I'd be more or less living the same thing a few years later, like very short time later, actually.
And did you place a real importance on getting smear tests done and keeping up to date on that?
Yeah, yeah. So I actually paid for a smear test in, I think it was 2019 or 2009. And then I went for my eligible smear in 2013 and that came back fine. And then I was due one in 2016 and I got married in 2015 and we knew we wanted to start a family and stuff. And I said, all right, I'm due my smear, I'll go off my smear. Went for that, everything came back fine. actually got pregnant, got on with my life, had a beautiful little girl in 2017. And then I had my second little girl in 2019 who I was actually due a smear on while I was pregnant on her. And then I waited till I had my little girl in 2019 and went for another smear. And then that, when I went for that smear, they were kind of like, it's not very clear, you know, we can't really see.
Like this was actually, you know, when I was in getting it done. and they were going to come back for another one. So I came back two weeks later. It was like, I think, January 2020. And yeah, I came back fine, got the results, no abnormalities, got on with my life. And then it was kind of around 20, in between kind of 21 and 23 that I started noticing kind of, you know, pelvic pain. You know, I was getting kind of, my period was very much all over the place. And, you know, I was kind of like, what's going on? And I was thinking, you know, after having... Two pregnancies, fairly close together. My body's changing.
Because that does take a toll on your body.
Yeah, it does. Of course it does. I mean, any pregnancy does. Luckily, I had two really good pregnancies, but very close together nonetheless. And yeah, I just thought like maybe I'm in early menopause. I was kind of going to the doctor. I was asking questions and.
So that was in 2022. And just to put in perspective, as you say, in 2016 and 2020, the test returned as normal, even though we know now there were obvious abnormalities there. And when you experienced all that pain that you're talking about, the pelvic pain and the rest of it, I mean, when... When did the high grade abnormalities show up? When did you find out what was happening?
I kind of started noticing symptoms were more stacking up on each other as opposed to, you know, OK, now I have this. I was kind of thinking, like, why are these now stacking up on each other? And it was kind of early 2023. I think it was January 2023. I went for an ultrasound. And again, that ultrasound came back fine. And then I was due my smear in 2023. I went in the March in 2023 for that. And that's when I was diagnosed. Then I was called into the doctors and told I had to go for colposcopy. And the day I went in for that colposcopy, I just said to the girls in there, like, you know, you're not going to give me good news today.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What was revealed by the 2018 cervical check scandal and why does it matter?
0:00–4:36
2
How did Leona first discover symptoms after previously ‘normal’ smear results?
4:36–16:15
3
When and how was Leona diagnosed with cervical cancer following colposcopy?
16:15–22:47
4
Why did Leona progress from stage one to stage four despite treatment?
22:47–28:15