Paralysed cancer drug girl to be put on at-risk register ‘to shut her up’
By Jan Disley
Last updated at 8:37 AM on 20th September 2009
A mother who is planning legal action against a pharmaceutical giant — claiming her daughter was left partially paralysed after having an anti-cancer vaccine — has been told the teenager is to be put on the social services ‘at-risk’ register.
Cheryl Cave says allegations that she is abusing her 13-year-old daughter Ashleigh are an attempt to ‘shut her up’ as she is demanding an investigation into the safety of a drug used to protect girls against the HPV virus that causes cervical cancer.
Ashleigh collapsed shortly after being given the jab at school and has spent nearly a year in hospital.
Ms Cave, 38, is now consulting lawyers about taking action against pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline and wants a full investigation into the safety of the drug Cervarix. She is being supported by lawyer Peter Todd, who is launching a multi-million-pound action on behalf of about ten teenage girls in the UK, including Ashleigh.
Ashleigh, from Liverpool, has been unable to walk unaided since having the jab last October and is an in-patient at Liverpool’s Alder Hey hospital. Tests have failed to find anything physically wrong. Doctors say Ashleigh is suffering from ‘learned illness’ behaviour and have called in social services.