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Riley memory honoured in campaign

Brother’s gift: Greg and Catherine Hughes with their daughter and the teddy bear she treasures. Picture: Nic Ellis/The West Australian

It should have been a time of family celebrations for Catherine and Greg Hughes - their first wedding anniversary, Easter and Catherine's birthday.

Instead, the Perth couple are mourning their one-month-old son Riley, who died two weeks ago from whooping cough complications.

They spoke yesterday of the "worst weeks of their lives" but a grief lessened by a huge outpouring of support.

Their daughter, 3, hugged Riley Bear - a blue teddy bear that arrived at Princess Margaret Hospital only an hour before Riley died and is now treasured as a present from him to his big sister "because he had to go away".

The couple revealed that when they were told Riley was dying, their immediate thought was organ donation so his death would not be in vain.

He was too small to be a donor, so the next best option was a campaign to raise awareness about whooping cough vaccination, which has prompted the State Government to introduce free boosters for pregnant women.

Mrs Hughes, who turns 28 on Saturday, said she still woke each morning in disbelief.

"You worry about getting through the pregnancy and birth and having a healthy baby and then you relax," she said. "To have a healthy baby one week, then gone the next, is just a horrific thing you wouldn't wish on anybody.

"Two-and-a-half weeks ago we knew nothing about whooping cough, we just did whatever was recommended, and now we have a Facebook page about whooping cough vaccination and we're doing our best to learn as much as we can."

Mr Hughes, 29, an occupational health and safety officer, said a fundraising page on social media had raised more than $41,000 for PMH research and he was confident it would reach $50,000.

"The campaign was thrust on us a bit but it's really been the best thing because we worked out early on that some good had to come out of this," he said.

"I'm really proud that my son is the face of this campaign but at the same time I'd give it all back to have him with us now."

The couple say there are still many gaps in education, highlighted by a Google search for "vaccination" showing anti-vaccination material as the top three results.

They want whooping cough booster shots to be on the national immunisation program, and an immunisation register and reminder system for adults "because vets send out better reminders for pets to be vaccinated".

But Mrs Hughes said she did not want those with concerns about vaccinations to be demonised.

"The only thing we blame is pertussis or whooping cough - that's what killed our baby, not anti-vaccination people," she said.

Details at pmhinmemory.every dayhero.com/au/light-for-riley

'To have a healthy baby one week, then gone the next, is just a horrific thing.'" *Catherine Hughes, * Riley's mum