Local HPV vaccine campaigner passes away

A terminally ill young Bettystown woman who had been campaigning for parents to give their children the HPV vaccine has died.

Eileen Rushe (35) was diagnosed with stage-three cervical cancer in December 2018.

Earlier this year, management at Louth County Hospital, Dundalk, apologised to Eileen over their failure to properly investigate and treat her condition.

She settled her case against the Health Service Executive in March for an undisclosed sum, after the High Court heard her diagnosis could have been given a year earlier, meaning her cervical cancer could have been cured.

Eileen revealed that she spent some of the money on buying the council house she and her son Seamus (14) have shared for more than a decade. Seamus’s died passed away a few years ago.

After initially successful treatment Eileen received an all clear diagnosis in June 2019, but unfortunately in August 2020 she learned the devastating news that her cancer had returned, having spread to her lungs and lymph nodes and was now incurable.

She had recently discovered that the cancer has also spread to her spine and brain and had been undergoing further radiotherapy, she had hoped to begin treatment with the new drug- pembro, a new and transformative cancer drug.

The mum of one, who had been living in Termonfeckin, Co Louth in recent years, bravely documented her journey with the illness in a candid blog called 'Cancer is a B*itch', outlining her treatment and experience since discovering the devastating news.

She previously told of how she wanted to use her voice to raise awareness and to prevent other families from suffering. She said at the time:

“I wanted to raise awareness, particularly at the moment with different scandals in the headlines surrounding Cervical Check.

"It's important that women try to remain trustful of the system even though it's not necessarily working as it should. I've had hundreds of messages from women saying that sharing my story has made them book a smear test.

“I've had mothers tell me that they were at a crossroads with the HPV vaccine, and I helped them make the decision. If you get a smear test and have abnormal cells and they are treated, you might not get cancer. It's a preventative step and women need to stay with it.”

She urged parents to sign their children up for the HPV vaccine to ensure they don’t face the same uncertain future as she is:

“I just think that if it existed when I was a teenager, I wouldn’t be dying now, and my son wouldn’t be facing a future as an orphan. And that’s the clearest message I can give.

“Make the right choices, because life is priceless.”