Mother delivers baby early so her dying partner could meet their daughter – two days before he died from kidney cancer
- Beccy Hunter made it her goal to make sure Jamie Hunter would meet his baby
- After he died she had a long battle to get his name on daughter’s birth certificate
A mother gave birth to her baby early so that her partner would be able to meet their daughter, just two days before he died from kidney cancer.
Beccy Hunter was thrilled that Jamie Hunter, 38, had the chance to briefly hold his daughter Harper-May when she was born in May 2020.
For Jamie being a father was ‘all he ever wanted’ and when Beccy was eight months pregnant she made it her goal to make sure her partner saw Harper’s birth.
She delivered the baby early and Jamie, a teacher and football coach, was able to say hello to his baby daughter, but sadly died two days later.
The grief-stricken mother-of-six then had to endure a two-year battle to get Jamie’s name registered on their daughter’s birth certificate.
Jamie Hunter was able to see his daughter Harper-May two days before he died of kidney cancer, after Beccy Hunter gave birth early
Beccy Hunter was thrilled that Jamie Hunter, 38, had the chance to briefly cuddle little Harper-May when she was born in May 2020
The entire process cost her £3,500 and caused a great deal of heartache – all because they weren’t married.
Beccy, who changed her surname from Flint just before Jamie died, had to go to solicitors and arrange for DNA samples to be collected from her deceased partner and her newborn baby.
This involved Jamie’s body being moved from a funeral directors to Heartlands Hospital in Birmingham, meaning she was unable to go and see him for three weeks.
Beccy then had to meet with social services and appear in court to make her case for why she wanted Jamie on the birth certificate.
Beccy, from Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, said: ‘It’s been hell, it makes me so mad that we had to go through this. If we had been married, they would have just taken it as gospel that he was the dad.
‘It’s just because the law is so outdated. Today, lots of people aren’t married when they have kids.’
Having already spoken to the register office, Beccy was aware that registering Jamie as the dad was not going to be a straightforward process.
Beccy said: ‘I had to arrange for a company from London to get a DNA sample from Jamie. It meant I wasn’t allowed to go and see him at the funeral home for weeks in case I contaminated the body.’
Beccy had to endure a two-year battle to get Jamie’s name registered on their daughter’s birth certificate
Beccy said that being a father was all Jamie ‘ever wanted’ and that she was determined to let him meet his daughter
Harper-May, now two years old, visiting her father Jamie’s grave
The mum-of-six explained that DNA would have to have been taken from Jamie’s brother had they not taken it from him. He had to be transferred to Heartlands Hospital for it to be carried out because is it so rarely done.
Beccy said: ‘It wasn’t nice for Harper either. She was only three weeks old and they came in, all masked up, to take her sample. But that was only part of the saga.’
Beccy was then interviewed by social services, which she found difficult: ‘They wanted to know whether Jamie wanted to be a dad and I had to prove that I was a fit mother. I don’t know what difference that made but this was all about consent.
‘When an unmarried couple register a birth, they go to the register office together and that way the dad gives his consent to be named on the birth certificate. The difficulty here was that Jamie was not here to prove his consent.’
Waiting for her case to be heard in court was delayed due to backlogs. When she was finally able to attend, Beccy said she broke down in tears in front of the judges.
Beccy said: ‘I had to go to court and swear on the Bible, standing in front of three judges to persuade them to put Jamie’s name on the birth certificate. It was so nerve-wrecking, I was in bits. I’ve never been in court before, I felt like a criminal.
‘Why did I have to stand in front of a judge when I’d done nothing wrong? I spent most of the time crying and the judges, these big men who are used to dealing with lots of criminal cases, ended up crying too.
Beccy finally got a birth certificate with Jamie’s name on it in July 2022, more than two years after Harper-May’s birth
When Beccy was finally able to attend court about getting Jamie’s name on the birth certificate, she said she broke down in tears in front of the judges
‘After I’d explained what it meant to me and to Harper, they looked at each other and said: “We are all in agreement and we are going to approve this”.’
However, that wasn’t the end of the process because Beccy then had to apply to get another birth certificate done.
She finally had the copy in her hand, complete with Jamie’s name on it, in July 2022, more than two years after Harper-May’s birth on May 11 2020.
Beccy said: ‘I couldn’t believe it when I finally had the completed certificate. I hadn’t been able to look at the original where it said father and there was just a blank space. It was wrong.
‘For Jamie, being a dad was all he ever wanted. Why should Harper grow up looking at her birth certificate with her dad being a blank space? I did it for Harper.
‘If we’d have been married, they’d have just put his name on the certificate. It’s utterly wrong. We did think about getting married but everything happened so fast with his illness.
‘There just wasn’t time to sort a wedding out, I was eight months pregnant and our focus was on getting him there to see Harper born.
‘He gave me a ring two days before he passed away and I changed my name to Hunter so Harper would have the same name growing up.
‘The whole process is wrong and we need to raise awareness to try to change it. I just feel that if I can help anyone in the same unfortunate position as me then it’s worth it.’
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