
A year and a half ago Catherine and Greg Hughes’ world changed when they lost their four-week old baby boy Riley to whooping cough. Just days after he started coughing Riley died, devastating the small family and waking many Australians up to the importance of getting a whooping cough vaccine during pregnancy.
Olivia Hughes and her little brother, Riley. Via Facebook.
But with the love for their baby in their hearts the couple moved forward working in his name to help defeat whooping cough.
Over the weekend the couple, who have gone through so much, shared some happy news with the announcement that their third baby, a daughter had arrived.
Catherine and Greg Hughes told followers on the Light for Riley Facebook page that their “hearts are bursting with pride”.

Catherine Hughes shared her happy news. Image via Nine News.
“We are delighted to announce the safe arrival of Riley’s sister — our precious rainbow baby. Both mum and bub are doing very well considering the emotional challenges faced after the loss of our brave boy.”
Alongside an image of a tiny striped beanie and a little hand, the couple wrote that their daughter, whose name they have not yet shared was a “new chapter in their lives.”
“Her big sister (Olivia, 4) is ecstatic to have her here and has already begun bossing dad around about handling baby every opportunity she gets (surprisingly she isn’t willing to take the lead on nappy changes!)
“Our hearts are bursting with pride and we’ll have more updates in the coming days and weeks. We’d like to thank our incredible community of supporters for all their beautiful words of kindness. We can’t wait for you to all meet her properly and we’re looking forward to this new chapter in our lives.”
Top Comments
Wonderful news. Congratulations to the Hughes family :)
Thankyou for the amazing, life saving work you do xxx
I am pregnant for the first time and want to say thank you to this family.
When we were in planning phase to starting our family, I did a lot of reading and made a list of essential facts, thoughts and to-dos etc.
One of the key things on my list was due to Riley; I made a note to absolutely ensure I'd have the whopping cough booster shot during pregnancy, whether it was mandatory or not. I did ask my obstetrician, and it seems that it is now part of the standard schedule.
I am grateful for the work they did in raising the awareness of this, so that others can do everything they can to have a healthy pregnancy and baby.