Stephen Teap talks to EMMA CONNOLLY about his work with ARC Cancer Support, becoming a father for the third time, and the lasting legacy of his late wife Irene

IT’S been a busy year for cancer care advocate and campaigner Stephen Teap. 

The CEO of Cork ARC Cancer Support House spearheaded an appeal to find a permanent West Cork premises for the charity which this year supported 400 people in the region – up from 300 last year. 

‘After a long search, we hope that in the coming weeks we’ll be in a position to announce that we’ve a new premises which is exactly what we’d been looking for and importantly, that is still in Bantry,’ he said. 

Stephen also became a dad for the third time. Welcoming baby Finbarr into the world three months ago with his partner Cathy, he moved house, and his eldest son started secondary school.

‘Life is definitely busy, but life is good,’ said Stephen, who became a nationally recognised figure after his wife Irene died in 2017 at the age of 35 after a cervical cancer misdiagnosis.

Irene was diagnosed with stage-two cancer in 2015 after two false negative cervical cancer tests in 2010 and 2013. She was one of 17 women who died after getting the incorrect results. Her audited results were known three weeks before her death, but were not shared with her.

Stephen went public with his story when he discovered the truth, as he didn’t want Irene to be known as ‘one of the 17’.

And in 2018, Stephen, alongside the late Vicky Phelan and Loraine Walsh, launched the 221Plus Patient Support Group to help victims directly affected by the CervicalCheck screening failure, as well as their families.

The national scandal will always be part of his life, but Stephen feels he can bring about more change now in his role at Cork ARC. 

‘It’s a very important piece of work for me, given my lived experience, and what happened in my own house,’ he said.

Cork ARC  was established in the city in 2001, and opened in Goureebeg, Bantry in 2015. The support and generosity of the community and volunteers help it deliver a diverse range of services free of charge including counselling, oncology nurse support, bereavement information, an online ‘thrive and survive’ survivorship programme and specialised breast cancer services.

‘Looking for a new premises in the middle of a housing crisis was a very difficult thing to do. We were very fortunate to have rented a premises for the past 10 years but we had the opportunity to find a permanent location, which we took, because the people of West Cork need that, and they need us to be there as our experience tells us that won’t travel to the city for services,’ said Stephen, who took up the position of CEO in the summer of 2024. 

Demand for their services is growing all the time. 

‘We had 4,000 interactions this year, which is up from 3,000 last year, either with people with a diagnosis themselves or their family. The increase is down to the rates of cancer being diagnosed, but is also down to a good news story that more people are beating the illness and coming to us for help getting back on their feet, and back into the world.’

This year Stephen put a focus on expanding their offerings into child services, and Cork ARC now has an experienced art therapist that works with kids. 

‘This is a very big step for us and the idea is to build on that. I’m thinking of children like my own who have been bereaved, and who had a family member go through cancer; and of course cancer is cruel and targets children too so it’s a great service to be able to offer.’

The late Vicky Phelan, who exposed the CervicalCheck cancer scandal.

Outside of his work in Cork ARC, Stephen –  whose mother is from Sam’s Cross, Clonakilty – has recently been working to bring about a patient voice in the HSE. 

‘When the cervical debacle hit it highlighted how voiceless I felt, and how hard it was to find the right people to speak to. I made the irreversible decision to go public with our family’s tragic story. I knew once I did it I could never undo it, but I felt there was no other way to be seen,’ he said. 

As a result of his campaigning, there’s now a regional patient and service user lead in the different regions. 

‘That’s giving a voice to people who were not represented before, creating a gateway where there wasn’t one before,’ said Stephen.

Since Irene’s tragic death, a lot of progress has been made in cervical cancer screening – much of it thanks to Stephen. 

‘Huge steps have been made to the point where cervical cancer is hoped to be eliminated by 2040 – that’s due to a combination of the working screening programme and the HPV vaccination programme.’

He said he’ll never make peace with what happened to Irene and his family. 

‘But I’m satisfied I did everything I could and left no stone unturned to get to the truth,’ he said. 

He recalled recently signing the HPV vaccination forms for his 13-year-old son Oscar who is in first year.  

‘It was really poignant because his mum would be alive if she had had it.’

Irene, whose ashes are buried in Allihies where her grandmother was from, would be turning 44 on December 23rd and to mark the occasion Stephen, Oscar and ten-year-old Noah will help with the collection at the Rotary Club’s remembrance tree in the city, with proceeds going to Cork ARC. 

‘Irene will forever be in our minds and hearts,’ said Stephen. ‘It is nice to feel human again in many ways, but we still carry our scars, and that’s important because it’s a reminder of those who should not be forgotten.’