A heartbroken mother has made a plea to parents in favour of a life-saving vaccine for youngsters.

Please get the jabs - Janet Margerum, with a picture of her daughter Helen, who died from a measles-related illness, is appealing for people to use the MMR vaccine. Picture: STEVE BRADING (38265-b)

Janet Margerum lost her 22-year-old daughter, Helen Kennedy, to a measles-related illness. She said Helen's death could have been prevented if she was given a measles immunisation jab as a child.

Mrs Margerum, from Clacton, has urged parents to give their children the current MMR jab to prevent similar disasters hitting other families.

Helen, who lived in High Woods, Colchester, died in January from the rare untreatable brain disease subacute sclerosing panencephalitis.

The measles virus lay dormant inside her before attacking her brain in autumn 2000. It gradually destroyed her nervous system, taking away movement, speech and sight. It eventually left her paralysed.

Mrs Margerum, 53, of Page Court, Clacton, said: "I wouldn't want any other mother to go through what I have been through.

"I would like to urge parents to have it done. If Helen had had the vaccination, hopefully, she would never have had measles."

More in today's Evening Gazette

Published Tuesday, September 14, 2004

Brought to you by the Evening Gazette