‘It doesn’t change what is happening in my life, but it could change somebody else’s’

Terminally ill mum-of-two Evija Rudzone is resolute. She hasn’t time left to be angry that her smear test under the CervicalCheck screening programme showed no abnormalities. Nor does she shed a tear for the inevitable outcome years after her initial missed diagnosis.

Instead the Latvian-native, who received a formal apology and “significant financial settlement” in the High Court last week, spares a thought for the mothers she now tragically shares a fate with.

For 48-year-old Evija, who sued the HSE and Quest laboratories, the admission in open court was most important.

“If more people talk about these problems then maybe there’ll be more people working on solutions. I know a lot of people get treated properly, who live long lives, but I see how many people die in Ireland from cancer. This can change, and maybe [my case] can prevent mistakes from happening again.”

Evija was represented by Dr John O’Mahony SC, instructed by Doireann O’Mahony BL and Richard Crowley of Belturbet’s McGuigan Solicitors, who told Justice Leonie Reynolds their client’s prognosis is such that she has between just two and twelve months left to live.

In settling the medical negligence action, the HSE admitted breaching its duty of care, with Our Lady of Lourdes in Drogheda recognising the subsequent “significant impact” the delayed cancer diagnosis has had, as well as the “enormous distress” this causes to both Evija and her family.

No admissions were made by US laboratory Quest Diagnostics Incorporated.

Evija, who worked as a chef at The Meadow View until illness rendered it impossible to continue is aware of the legacy left by the likes of Vicky Phelan- among the first to expose the cervical cancer screening scandal in Ireland.

“I believe everyone is put here with a plan. Maybe this is what my life was for, why I am here, my purpose. To inspire others, I hope I can.”

Fatigued

Evija describes how doctors in Ireland failed on multiple occasions to pick up abnormalities in screenings carried out between 2019 and 2021.

Despite medical assurances Evija found herself chronically fatigued, suffering from severe pains in her abdomen, and experiencing unusual heavy bleeding.

These deep and latent concerns caused Evija to spend her life savings on a flight to Latvia in 2022 for a second opinion, where a series of tests ultimately confirmed advanced Grade 2 cancer.

Evija had a full hysterectomy, and underwent both chemotherapy and radium in Latvia. But further examination found cancer cells in her lymphnodes, and a year after that metastases in her lungs.

While no details of the court settlement were publicly disclosed, reached following days of often heated closed-door mediation, Evija’s counsel described the result in her favour as “substantial”.

Live for today

Evija first moved to Ireland in 2010 for “new opportunities, a better life”.

She refuses to get too emotional. Even now.

“It might have something with the brain surgery,” she laughs, too hard perhaps.

A large knitted scar several inches long marks the back of her head. She’s conscious of it and does her best to cover it up. But the incision is only a small reminder of what Evija has and is going through.

After surgery on June 27 to remove metastases on her brain, Evija briefly lost power in her arm. Movement has since returned, but weaker than before. This was a defining moment says Evija, as it marked the first time she realised the speed of recovery was no longer keeping pace with the spread of her cancer.

“It’s growing back too fast,” she admits. “So I have to live for today, get the most out of life, everyday.”

Incredibly Evija was still able to muster the strength and fortitude to be present at the High Court last week- the closure of “another chapter”- where she gave an impassioned account of the terrible personal toll cancer has had on her life.

Aside from having to leave her children behind in Ireland to travel to Latvia for complex treatment for months at a time, the strain and stress also caused her marriage to break down. On top of that Evija’s father sadly passed away a year and a half ago.

“Life has been difficult, certainly, but maybe the next will be easier,” she smiles softly.

Again Evija switches selflessly to thinking of others. She feels most for Irish women left waiting months for vital cancer screening or life saving treatment, where she herself was able to travel back to Latvia and be seen by experts almost immediately.

“The patient is not the priority I feel,” she says of the Irish health system. “You wait ages here to get to meet the doctor. Latvia may be a poor country compared to Ireland but it is more for the people. We don’t need big problems to see someone. It took me three years here to see a [gynecologist]. That’s a big problem. It shouldn’t be this way. Now when I go to the doctor or the hospital they jumpup, they listen. Not like before, maybe because now they’re in trouble. It shouldn’t be this way.”

Gut feeling

If Evija has one regret it is “not trusting” herself.

“That I didn’t pay more attention to my gut feeling. I’m really sorry for not trusting myself. They called me to clinics, carried out procedures, everything was ‘normal’ they told me, but I was thinking all that time something was wrong. But you listen to them, because they are doctors and who are you? What do I know? I was suspicious. But it’s too late now.”

Where Evija does begin to well up however briefly is when she speaks about her two daughters. She holds back, takes a deep breath and gathers herself before acknowledging the heart-rending fact she won’t be around to see them continue to grow.

At her weakest, her daughters were there to look after their mother, as was her sister and her son who also live in Cavan. Even her ex husband and his family have been important pillars.

Evija is eternally grateful to all for their support.

Her dying though is a challenge the family are still trying to come to terms with.

“I’m not afraid. It’s nothing to worry about I don’t feel,” says Evija with remarkable composure and dignity. “At the start I was really, because I worried about how my kids would manage. But I see them now, they’ve lived through so much already. For me, there are days I still think - ‘this can’t be true’. But there is a finish line. I know that.”

Evija concludes by saying that other people with cancer have encouraged her to “never give up”.

“When you give up, and you don’t have hope, that’s when it gets to you. They say having hope can give you extra years. In my case maybe more months. I live day by day now. I am thankful for what I have.”

She says of the court apology that it meant “everything” to her. “I am so proud, so happy. The money means nothing to me. What good is it to me? But the apology. I know it doesn’t change what is happening in my life, but it could change somebody else’s. I hope the people who didn’t follow the protocols with me learn from this, that this doesn’t happen to some other person.”