IT IS a sad and somewhat sordid image. A gravely ill woman, realising she is near death, is forced into agreeing a settlement with a state body whose negligence ultimately led to her death.

Brigid Ellen McCole accepted the settlement of £175,000 from the Blood Transfusion Service Board (BTSB) this week on the day before her death. It was the same sum she was offered only five months before and had refused. Near to death she knew she had to make some provision for her 12 children and her sick husband, so she agreed to the sum.

But those who knew this Co Donegal woman all agree that her battle was never about money. What you don't have you won't miss," she used to say. What she wanted, and what she fought for, was the truth about what happened in the anti-D controversy and an apology to those infected.

That is why the 54-year-old woman, seven in her worst moments of pain", refused to apply to the compensation tribunal set up by the Government. Instead she brought her case to the High Court. She was, all those involved agree, an inspiration to other women infected with the disease.

Her family are said to be angry this week at the delay in her case and the belated admission of liability by the BTSB.

Those who knew Brigid say she was a tall, striking woman with "great bearing", who had a quiet dignity about her. Hers cannot have been an easy life. Her family of 12 - James, Eoghan, Bernard John, Dominic, Charles, Eileen Maeve, Grace, Margo, Elaine and Mary - are now aged from 16 to 26.

The McColes come from a Gaeltacht area of north-west "Donegal, in Loughaugher, near Crolly. It is a beautiful part of the "country with a strong sense of community, but it is a tough area to bring up a family, particularly a large one.

It is often cut off during winter snowstorms. Letterkenny is the nearest major shopping centre and schools are located in Dungloe and Gweedore. But the McColes were a close happy family. Brigid did not drink or smoke. Her husband, Brian, had been a sheep farmer on a small scale, but he has been ill for some years. Some of her sons and daughters work locally in factories; others went abroad.

ALTHOUGH her hepatitis C was diagnosed only in 1994, Brigid had been unwell for a number of years before that. She was infected through anti-D, which was given to pregnant women to prevent haemolytic (or blue baby) syndrome.

As many women in the same situation describe it, there was a feeling of "not ever being right" after that. She suffered from thrombosis, had a number of clots in her legs, pulmonary emboli, and had a few bouts of pneumonia over the past 10 years.

In the years before her diagnosis in 1994, according to her GP, Dr James Brogan, she visited his surgery on a number of occasions.

"A woman with 12 children and an ill husband is going to be a tired person. We did the usual bloods and things and they turned up normal. Brigid had -received anti-D during a number of her pregnancies. When she read about hepatitis C in the papers she knew straight away really that she had it. We did a test and that confirmed it, says Dr Brogan.

Like the other women who had been infected, she was afraid and confused. She became a member of Positive Action. A photograph of her meeting President Robinson in Aras an Uachtarain in November 1994 along with other Positive Action women was a treasured possession which she carried in her handbag.

She was treated for the disease in Letterkenny General Hospital and then in Dublin. The seven-hour journey from her home to Dublin's Beaumont Hospital was made by bus or in a North Western Health Board ambulance.

These trips for treatment were the only time Brigid left Donegal. She found them difficult and lonely, even though she was visited by her children. Towards the end of her illness two of her daughters were at home full-time to nurse her.

She had been transferred from Beaumont Hospital to St Vincent's recently as doctors were investigating the possibility of a kidney transplant. However, her condition deteriorated rapidly.

Her GP, Dr Brogan, said some reports described her as being "depressed", but this was not true. He had contacted her legal team a number of months ago to tell them that he was seriously concerned about her condition - and the delay in hearing the case.

"Of course, there would be a psychological effect. She was living out a death sentence and that would cause anyone anxiety. However, she did not bear any ill-will towards the State. What she did want was the truth.

"I tried to persuade her to go to the tribunal, but she told me that if she did she would not know what had happened. The tragedy that it did not come out. She did not get her chance to stand up in court and tell her story.

"Of course, the whole protracted business took its toll. Brigid is a great loss. We are all very annoyed that the whole thing was drawn out. The way she looked, even a neighbour would realise that she was dying."

The local Fianna Fail TD, Dr Jim McDaid, agrees. "I just do not understand how anyone could say she would survive until October. They were dealing with a very ill woman. You could see that she was getting physically worse. As well as the hepatitis C, she was being treated with warfarin to stop her blood clotting."

Brigid McCole died of liver failure on Wednesday, less than a week before her test case hearing was due to open in the High Court.

Her funeral Mass will take place this morning at Meenaweel church, 2 1/2 miles from her home. Afterwards she will be buried in a grave she chose herself in Magheragallon cemetery.