A mum has told how she was able to have children safely despite her epilepsy - because a York Hospital consultant gave her crucial advice on a safe drug she could take.

Lynne Mulligan spoke out after The Press reported recently how two epileptic mums from the York area said their children’s lives had been devastated by health problems after they were prescribed an anti-convulsant, sodium valproate, during their pregnancies.

Lynne, of Dringhouses, said she was ‘one of the lucky ones,’ having given birth to two healthy children, Isabel and Charlie, after being put on a safe alternative, but she was ‘angry, saddened and frustrated’ that so many children had suffered unnecessarily.

She said she had made the heartbreaking decision not to have children after a London hospital consultant had correctly warned her she shouldn’t take sodium valproate while pregnant but wrongly said there was no alternative medication available. “I was devastated, traumatised and crushed,” she said.

But after she moved from London to York, she saw a York Hospital consultant who asked her about her plans to have children.

“I explained I knew the risks of the drug I was taking and as a consequence of that we planned to adopt,” she said. “She looked very surprised and asked me if anyone had talked to me about levetiracetam, which they hadn’t.

York Press: Lynne Mulligan, with her children when they were younger, Isabel and Charlie

“She went in to detail about the new drug and confirmed that all research of this drug to-date showed no negative impact on the unborn child and would have the same control over my condition.

“I was incredibly sceptical, as surely, if this was true, in knowledge of everything we had discussed, her peer professor in London would have provided me with the same solution?

“With a lot of reticence and with the intention of doing a lot of research, I started to take the drug in parallel with valproate to see if I had any side effects.

“With no issues, and over a period of one year, I transitioned to 100 per cent levetiracetam and took the risk of trying for a baby. I was relieved to give birth to a beautiful and healthy baby girl in 2007, who has continued to thrive, as has her brother who followed three years later.”

York Press: Isabel and Charlie Mulligan, pictured when they were younger

The Press reported recently how Terri Gibson, of Holme-on-Spalding-Moor, and Jane B, of York, were amongst about 20,000 mothers nationwide who were prescribed sodium valproate during pregnancy and whose children are thought to have suffered physical deformities and neurological problems as a result.

Lynne said that every time she read such an article, she couldn’t believe it had been allowed to happen, asking: "Why, when the profession was so clearly aware of ‘Valproate Children,’ were women of child bearing age not routinely informed as standard? I hope the parents and children receive compensation for the harm caused.”