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Parents set to sue over MMR 'link to
autism'
BY PAUL JEEVES
A COUPLE who say their son's bubbly personality changed just days after
he received the controversial MMR jab have launched legal action.
Darren and Helen Walton have begun their battle for compensation after
years of struggling to cope with nine-year-old Stefan's autism.
They say they feel "robbed" of a normal family life because not enough
research has been carried out into the side-effects of the triple
vaccination for measles, mumps and rubella.
The couple, of Sandgate Drive, Kippax, Leeds, have filed a writ in the
High Court against US pharmaceutical giants Merck and Co Inc claiming
damages exceeding £50,000.
Stefan, who attends Broomfields special school, suffers from severe
autism but his parents say that until he had the vaccine at 15 months he
had been a bright and alert child.
The couple's daughter Lauren, 11, had the MMR jabs with no problems but
they now say they would never again take the risk of giving a child the
triple vaccination until a link with autism is officially ruled out.
Helen, 34, said: "Stefan was a normal, bubbly, little boy. But within
two to three weeks of having the jabs we noticed something was
completely different.
"He became blank and where he would always wave Darren goodbye and
welcome him home in the evening, there was suddenly nothing."
Darren, 36, added: "We thought we had the perfect family, a girl and a
boy, both seemingly healthy and then Stefan had his MMR jabs and it fell
apart."
Helen said despite repeated visits to the hospital it was only while
watching a television programme she realised Stefan was autistic.
She said: "It was during national autistic week that I watched a
programme and suddenly the penny just dropped. The symptoms they were
describing were exactly Stefan's. I went back to the hospital and the
doctors confirmed he had autistic tendencies. But looking back now the
link with the jabs just seems too strong. I feel that we have been
robbed of our normal family life."
paul.jeeves@ypn.co.uk
18 February 2003 |
