A boy who slept for 19 hours a day after the swine flu jab gave him narcilepsy has finally won £120,000 damages after a six-year battle.

Josh Hadfield, from Frome, Somerset, developed the condition within three weeks of receiving the Pandemrix vaccine in 2010.

He would fall asleep up to every five minutes - even when he was walking, eating and swimming - and suffered sudden seizures when he laughed.

The vaccine is now associated with a 14-fold increase in a child's risk of developing the condition.

The Government initially refused to pay out through the Vaccine Damage Payments Scheme because he was not deemed 'severely disabled' enough.

But his mother Caroline, 45, fought a determined campaign and has finally been awarded £120,000 in damages. She said winning was a 'huge relief'.

'It will help secure Josh's future - it's just a shame we had to jump through this amount of hoops to get this far,'she added.

Josh Hadfield, pictured here aged 4, developed narcolepsy after receiving the Pandremix vaccine six years ago. The vaccine was the most widely used in the UK during the 2009-10 flu pandemic but was withdrawn from use after studies linked it to an increased risk of narcolepsy

His mother Caroline, 47, said winning the payout was a 'huge relief'. The vaccine has also left him suffering cataplexy, which affects muscle control, and weight gain

Families are entitled to £120,000 through the Vaccine Damage Payments Scheme but only if they can prove 'severe' disability.

Mrs Hadfield said her son was coping and had to have one to two sleeps during the school day.

'Josh has had to work incredibly hard because he misses lessons due to sleep and medical appointments,' she said.

He has also gained a lot of weight due to his condition and medication.

Josh received the vaccine at his local GP surgery on January 21, 2010, after Mrs Hadfield was told he was 'at risk' of the H1N1 virus because he was under five.

Known as Pandemrix, it was made by GlaxoSmithKline.

But Mrs Hadfield claims that within weeks of the jab she noticed a drastic change in her son.

Now 10, he also suffers from cataplexy, which affects muscle control, but he had shown no symptoms of the illness before being vaccinated.

The Government had a knee-jerk reaction to swine flu and put out this vaccine, giving it to very young children Josh's mother, Caroline Hadfield

'He would fall asleep up to every five minutes - even when he was walking, eating and swimming - and suffered sudden seizures when he laughs,' she said.

She and her husband Charlie, 47, decided to take legal action after the Health Protection Agency found there was a ten-fold increased risk of the disorder in children given the drug, Pandemrix.

'He was a perfectly healthy energetic four-year-old before the vaccination, but within two weeks he was getting more tired and after three weeks he was sleeping for 19 hours.

'Things then developed quickly and he struggled to walk. Nothing could convince me it was anything but the jab which caused Josh's conditions.

'The Government had a knee-jerk reaction to swine flu and put out this vaccine, giving it to very young children.'

Mrs Hadfield said: 'Josh [pictured here aged 3] was perfectly healthy energetic child before the vaccination, but within two weeks he was getting more tired and after three weeks he was sleeping for 19 hours'

Josh now only has two sleeps at school a day. 'He has had to work incredibly hard because he misses lessons due to sleep and medical appointments', his mother added

Mrs Hadfield , a civil servant, said: 'Laughter can trigger attacks and Josh was too anxious about fear of an incident to go sledging in last week's snow.

'You see other children who can laugh and enjoy things and yes Josh can laugh and enjoy things but his reaction means that he goes unconscious.

'We feel we are constantly treading on eggshells.'

The Hadfield's solictor, Suzanne Williams said she was incredibly pleased for Josh's victory.

NARCOLEPSY AND ITS LINK TO THE SWINE FLU VACCINE Narcolepsy, which occurs in one in every 2,000 people, is a sleep disorder that causes a person to suddenly fall asleep at inappropriate times. It is a long-term neurological condition that disrupts normal sleeping patterns. Symptoms include, sleep attacks, daytime sleepiness and cataplexy - temporary muscle weakness in response to emotion. It is often caused by an autoimmune response - this is when antibodies are released by the body but instead of destroying disease, they attack healthy cells. In the case of narcolepsy, antibodies attack the areas of the brain that produce a sleep-regulating chemical. There is currently no cure but the condition can sometimes be managed, for example, by taking regular naps, eating healthily and exercising. In some cases, medications such as antidepressants or stimulants can also help. Since 2011, the Department of Health has prevented the use of Pandemrix in people under the age of 20. The vaccine is associated with a 14-fold increase in a child's risk of developing the condition. It is thought that for every 55,000 children who were given the jab, Pandemrix, one has developed narcolepsy. Researchers, who published their findings in the British Medical Journal, studied 75 children with narcolepsy and found that 11 of these had received the vaccine before their symptoms began. Advertisement

She said: 'To succeed in the appeal, we had to satisfy the tribunal that he had a 60 per cent disablement or more and they, in fact, concluded that he was 72 per cent disabled based upon his present symptoms.

'They were also critical of the medical evidence provided by the secretary of state which they considered had not taken into account the whole picture.'

Pandemrix was most widely used in the UK during the 2009-10 flu pandemic and given to almost a million British children between six months and five years old.

However, following a number of trials across the EU, it is no longer in use after links between the drug and narcolepsy were found in youngsters from Finland, Sweden and Ireland.

In July 2011 the European Medicines Authority advised against giving it to the under 20s.

The Health Protection Agency then commissioned a study in UK children and found that there was an estimated risk of the disorder in one in 52,000 in those vaccinated.

Specialists reviewed 75 children aged between four and 18 who developed narcolepsy after the vaccine and found a 10-fold increased risk of the condition within six months of having the jab.

These findings led them to state that the link suggested a 'causal association consistent with reports from Finland and Sweden'.

The results, which was highlighted in BBC programme Inside Out West, saw prominent scientists agree with the findings.

Professor Adam Finn, from the University of Bristol, who was in charge of one of the paediatric clinical trials of Pandemrix, said: 'The bottom line is that they found that there was somewhere between 10 and 16 times more likely to have had Pandemrix than other children.

'If you look at the figures, from what I can see the risk is so much increased that it seems very unlikely that this is a biased result. It is likely to be real.'

A spokesman for GlaxoSmithKline said: 'We remain committed to carrying out additional research into the potential role of Pandemrix in the development of narcolepsy.