Thalidomide campaigner's funeral

Jeanette was among hundreds of thalidomide victims

The funeral of a woman who became the first thalidomide victim to give birth was due to take place on Tuesday.

Jeanette Cooke, from Manchester, was born without arms or legs after her mother took the anti-nausea drug during the 1960s.

Despite her disability, she became one of the UK's leading campaigners for the rights of those disabled by the drug and was chairman of the Thalidomide Society.

Her daughter, Kelli-Anne, grew up to become a healthy teenager - despite fears about a thalidomide victim giving birth.

Compensation battle

Jeanette, 40, was born without properly developed limbs.

But her widower, Bob, said she never let her disability affect her.

He said: "She was so outgoing. Nothing ever fazed her, she just lived life to the full.

"She never looked at the disability side - beauty is only skin deep anyway, it's what's inside that really matters.

"I've written on the card for her flowers: 'You were my life, my love, my inspiration.'"

During her 40th birthday party in 2002, Jeanette told a BBC documentary Thalidomide victims were no different to other disabled people.

She added: "We were just unique because we were man made this way.

"Unfortunately in the 1960s we made history, in the wrong way.

"But a lot of people now don't even know what Thalidomide is because once it's gone, it's gone."