Hertfordshire dad meets William and Kate in fight for ‘Hugh’s Law’
Ceri Menai-Davis is campaigning to give parents of seriously ill children statutory paid leave and protection at work
A dad from Hertfordshire who lost his young son to cancer has met the Prince and Princess of Wales while campaigning for a new law in his son’s name.
Six-year-old Hugh passed away almost five years ago after being diagnosed with a rare soft tissue cancer.
His dad, Ceri Menai-Davis from Hertford, is calling for “Hugh’s Law” to give parents of seriously ill children statutory paid leave and protection at work while caring for their child.
As it stands, parents of a child who is born unwell are entitled to financial support, although this stops once the child is a month old.
Mr Menai-Davis says this means parents are under huge financial stress, having to juggle work while looking after their critically ill child.
He says: “We know that parents have to sell homes, put their clothes on Vinted, and set up GoFundMe pages.
“I get 50 messages a week about the decisions parents are making — either being by their child’s bedside or going to work.
“I was taking Zoom calls by Hugh’s bedside during his last week of chemotherapy, but on the other side of my laptop, my little boy was receiving treatment and not feeling very well.
“I was having to juggle catching him going to the toilet or being sick… the main focus should be on him, not answering emails.”
Hugh’s parents recently met the Prince and Princess of Wales after being invited to a garden party at Buckingham Palace for their campaigning work on Hugh’s Law.
Ceri said: “We ended up having a nice, in-depth conversation with Kate about what we went through as parents.
“My wife did get a little emotional talking about it and shed a tear, and the Prince of Wales gave her a hug, comforted her, and understood, mother to mother, what mothers go through.”
He added: “We don't take it for granted — it's been a lot of hard work, blood, sweat and tears. I've lost my son, and I'd prefer to have him back at any point rather than do all this. So we keep battling on.”