Brave Lynsey Bennett first made national headlines when she gave a heartbreaking statement outside the High Court in Dublin after settling an action over an alleged cervical cancer misdiagnosis.
The beautiful blonde mother of two captured the heart of the nation as she sobbed her heart out at the Four Courts as she spoke publicly about the love she had for her daughters.
She had sued the Health Service Executive (HSE), as well as Irish testing laboratory Eurofins Biomnis Ireland Ltd, Sandyford Industrial Estate, Dublin and US Laboratory Quest Diagnostics Incorporated, New Jersey.
Read More: Vicky Phelan pens poignant tribute following death of Lynsey Bennett and shares health update
A settlement was reached, and Ms Bennett set up a trust fund for both her children.
Speaking to the media after the case she said: “To my daughters Zoe and Hailee, I hope I have done enough to secure you both a future free of financial worries and that even with me not here to guide you, you can both pursue your dreams. And always remember, Mammy loves you. X”.
The young 34-year-old mother from Co Longford alleged she was diagnosed with an invasive form of cervical cancer in 2017 and went to court in 2021.
She later appeared on the Late Late Show saying she was relieved that her children would have support in the future following her High Court action.
She told Ryan Tubridy that she felt guilty around her 21 st birthday when her mother had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, and that spurred her on to get a smear.
Lynsey then went on to have five smear tests in seven years and said she was “exhausted all of the time, the bleeding started very late in 2016 and I thought ‘OK I need to go the doctor about this. I thought I was losing my mind”.
A year later, on January 17 she said she was diagnosed with aggressive cervical cancer.
She said : “When I stepped foot into the hospital then on the 19 th , I was told I was never going to have children again. I was 28 years of age" she said.
"I felt worthless as a woman. That I couldn’t give someone a child if I ever met somebody new”.
Not having her mother during this time, she said was “the hardest thing” adding that “I never ever wanted to be in the position that she ended up in herself”.
It was when she was receiving radiation treatment in hospital that she saw Vicky Phelan in a news report outside the Four Courts and that’s when she knew she was part of the now well-known cervical cancer scandal.
Lynsey’s tragic passing comes shortly after Vicky Phelan’s film “Vicky” about her personal journey as a campaigner to uncover the CervicalCheck scandal launched on October 7.
In 2018 it emerged that several women, including Vicky Phelan were suing the HSE after they received incorrect smear test results.
A retrospective audio of the cervical cancer screenings shows 221 women’s tests readings missed abnormalities.
In a previous interview with Ireland AM, Lynsey said she gets up at 5.30am to work on herself and her treatments before her daughter Hailie wakes up saying she “didn’t want to be in her face” and that her daughter was sleeping in her bed at night.
She also said: “Zoe (her eldest daughter) wanted to give sleeping at school a shot, I’m delighted for her that she is loving being 25minutes up the road, like that she doesn’t see the rush into hospital. She is also in a routine when I am not in her life every day”.
In 2021 she flew to Mexico to undergo pioneering treatment in a specialised hospital in Cancun.
She was close friends with singer Una Healy, and the pair often shared touching photos together online.
Lynsey had planned her own funeral and set up a trust fund for her children.
In September she said she was not well again and went to hospital and was told her cancer had spread significantly and was incurable.
In August she told her Instagram followers that she had worked hard to see her 34 th birthday saying it was “certainly a birthday that wasn’t expected but a birthday that was worked extremely hard for”.
She also said she hoped she could have treatment she got in Germany here in Ireland “to give me a chance to see 35”.
Lynsey had also told her followers: "I felt guilty that I had the girls and now I'm putting them through this."
"I never ever said to them 'Mammy is going to get better', because I didn't know. Kids just know that it's a sickness.
"This time, I sat them down and I just said 'Mammy has got cancer again, Mammy's sick again.
"This time it looks like Mammy might have to be an angel because the hospital doesn't think they have the medicine to make it better."
She also shared that she was going to Ibiza with her children “because for the first time in a month, it’s the only place I felt no pain. I am going to go, and I am going to put myself together, and I am going to spend time with my kids”.
In 2021 she flew to Mexico to undergo pioneering treatment in a specialised hospital in Cancun.
She was close friends with singer Una Healy, and the pair often shared touching photos together online.
Lynsey had planned her own funeral and set up a trust funder for her children.
In September she said she was not well again and went to hospital and was told her cancer had spread significantly and was incurable.
In August she told her Instagram followers that she had worked hard to see her 34 th birthday saying it was “certainly a birthday that wasn’t expected but a birthday that was worked extremely hard for”.
She also said she hoped she could have treatment she got in Germany here in Ireland “to give me a chance to see 35”.
Lynsey had also told her followers "I felt guilty that I had the girls and now I'm putting them through this."
"I never ever said to them 'Mammy is going to get better', because I didn't know. Kids just know that it's a sickness.
"This time, I sat them down and I just said 'Mammy has got cancer again, Mammy's sick again.
"This time it looks like Mammy might have to be an angel because the hospital doesn't think they have the medicine to make it better."
She also shared that she was going to Ibiza with her children “because for the first time in a month, it’s the only place I felt no pain. I am going to go, and I am going to put myself together, and I am going to spend time with my kids”.
Yesterday her family said Lynsey died on Thursday night at the age of 34, leaving behind her beloved children Zoe, 14 and Hailee, 9.
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