Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
FEES ARE AXED
MUM’S PAIN GRIEVING Melissa Higgs supported the Sunday Mirror’s campaign after she was landed with a £700 bill to bury her beloved baby boy Jack.
She said of the fees victory: “This is the best news. It’s absolutely amazing. I can’t thank the Sunday Mirror enough. Losing a child is the most painful thing a parent can endure but then to be lumbered with a bill you can’t afford is just awful. Funeral charges for children should never have been in place and now the right thing has finally been done.
“When Jack died I thought my heart would break but by highlighting my son’s case and achieving this it makes me so proud his death wasn’t completely in vain.”
Jack was just eight months old when he died three years ago after getting tangled up in sheets in his cot.
Melissa, 29, of Doncaster, South Yorks, was then told it would cost £700 for the burial.
The mum – who has a son Blake, five, and last week gave birth to Elsie-May – went on: “I couldn’t afford it, I kept thinking I wouldn’t be able to bury him.
“The funeral director and vicar waived their charges. But I had no choice but to turn to grandparents to pay for the headstone and it was a further £700 for the plot. The council had to be paid. The financial worry crippled me.
“The pain of losing my son was intensified by these cruel antiquated costs. I felt like a failure.
“Knowing another parent won’t have to face the sheer hell I did is the best result I could have hoped for. The Sunday Mirror worked tirelessly and thousands of parents will be so relieved and grateful. I can’t thank you enough for seeing this through to the rightful end.” LOST GEM Jack died at 8 months