THE FAMILY of a Highcliffe woman brain damaged since infancy by a whooping cough vaccination have given a £10,000 bequest to the Wessex Autistic Society's Domino Appeal.

Karen Green had suffered severe brain damage as a result of the whooping cough jab and after a long legal battle her parents and the families of other vaccine damage victims were awarded compensation by the government.

Her parents used the award to provide a trust fund to pay for Karen's care after their deaths but when Karen, a lifelong client at the Juniper Centre in Christchurch, died earlier this year at the age of 48 the money was left to her father, Michael, and elder sister Lesley now living in Canada.

Their decision to give £10,000 to the Domino Appeal stemmed from the family's brief involvement with the then fledgling Wessex Autistic Society in 1968 when it was thought Karen's condition was associated with autism.

"This is a wonderful and touching gesture. We are very grateful to Karen's father for thinking of us," said the society's corporate and trusts fund-raiser Debbie Anderson.

The money, boosted to £12,800 by tax relief under the government gift aid scheme, will be used towards the cost of a building a second boarding house at the society's newly-built Portfield School at Parley.

Karen's widowed father has also made a £10,000 donation from her legacy to the Tenovus cancer charity's diamond appeal.