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This is beyond outrageous and has our blood boiling along with this poor family.

Light for Riley was setup by parents, Catherine and Greg Hughes, to fight for vaccine awareness following the death of their baby boy, Riley, who passed away in March 2015, from whooping cough at just 32 days old.

Greg has today shared they are angered by a Facebook group that was setup to mock their important cause.

Greg shared on the Light for Riley page today, “Just when you think anti-vaccine lobbyists can’t sink to a new low, last night we were alerted to a page set up, mocking our dead son and lying about us.

“Normally I’m not one to provide any oxygen to pages full of misinformation, however a couple of items on the page caught my eye and so I refused to let this one slip.

The about section of the group states as follows:

“This page is making the Light For Riley page accountable to the misinformation they spread about vaccines. Light For Riley are funded by pharmaceutical companies to promote the death of their baby. This page is unfunded and has no conflicts of interest when it comes to promoting accurate information about the vaccine industry.”

Let me give these anonymous liars a fact-check of their own, wrote Greg.

“We have NEVER accepted funding from pharmaceutical companies. We are run by volunteers, nobody is paid a wage and our activism has only come at expense to us. For the most part we have poured our own money and efforts into the campaign with the two primary motivations being to honour our son and to ensure no family endures the heartache we suffered.

“Further to this, posting misinformation and mistruths isn’t actually fact checking – it’s lying. Neither myself nor Catherine would ever publish anything we felt was controversial, dubious or unproven. We have been enormous advocates of the maternal booster because science and evidence shows it’s incredibly successful in protecting those members of the community who are most vulnerable to whooping cough – newborn babies. The ‘fact checking’ I’ve seen so far has been primarily attacks on my family.

“This page also states we don’t allow ‘differing opinions’. For clarity we don’t allow misinformation and baseless claims. Many parents who come to our page are doing so because they are unsure about vaccination requirements. They sometimes bring with them concerns surrounding misinformation they may have heard. The last thing we will do is allow a voice that posts misleading, false information that may further convolute the situation. If you don’t like that your information isn’t heard on our page, post it on your own page. Vulnerable parents are entitled to accurate information based on fact not falsified cherry picked data and magical pixie cures pushing alternative products that don’t work.

“My son was real. The hurt we have all experienced from his loss is immense and to suggest we ‘promote his death for profits’ is insulting. “

“My son was the light of my life. He was everything I’d ever wanted and I had plans for the most incredible future which revolved around him and my daughter Olivia wanting for nothing. This future was cruelly ripped away by a preventable disease. The worst part of this whole situation is knowing that if we’d been provided access to the maternal booster during pregnancy, in all likelihood I would still have my son today.

“Setting up Light for Riley was a legacy of love and our only wish was to ensure that no family would ever have to suffer the fate that mine did.”

“I have a Riley sized hole in my heart that will never be filled and I still spend most days knowing that I’ve been cheated of some of the most amazing experiences with one of the most incredible little human beings I’ve ever had the pleasure of spending time with. I will likely never have a son – I don’t want other families to have to say the same thing.

“My family didn’t choose this life. I would give every worldly belonging I own to have just one more day with my son. To witness the cruelty and callous actions of a group of ignorant fear mongers who want nothing more than to prey on the vulnerable and vilify the bereaved to further their own agenda is nothing short of vile.

“I will never stop advocating for strong public health policy and nor will I stop advocating in honour of my son. What I will start doing however, is calling out the abject cruelty of individuals whose actions may potentially harm the wellbeing of other members of the community.”

Thank you to all our wonderful supporters, your voices are always the ones which resonate loudest.”

-Riley’s Dad”

Greg has previously shared just a snippet of the abuse they receive ongoing from antivaxxers. It is disgusting behaviour towards a grieving family.

Unbelievable! Some people seriously have nothing better to do.

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  • I don’t think I can read the other article in the link about the abuse he received from those who oppose vaccination. Irrespective of your stance, have some decorum and above all else have a heart and act with a sense of humanity.

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  • sad for arguments to happen :(

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  • “I hope my infant child dies slowly and painfully from whooping cough so I can cash in from big pharma by promoting their vaccines” said LITERALLY NO PARENT EVER!
    Some people should not be allowed on the internet. What this group is doing to this family, who lost their baby boy from an illness which should not even exist in our country anymore, is just pure evil.

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  • Not ok to start arguing about difference of opinion over a child what lost it’s life and a family who’s grieving.

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  • Some people have no heart. Hasn’t this poor family suffered enough.

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  • He complains about the light for Riley being censored yet, write anything negative on his page and it disappeares within minutes
    A provaxx / science page got wind of it and A LOT of people called him out for being heartless ! The person\’s finger must\’ve been on fire from deleting everything. Some posts showed 145 comments , yet once you clicked, there were only 4-5 left. ..

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  • Riley’s family have always been so wonderfully articulate and courageous. I respect them.

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  • Those that are spreading these lies need to find out the truth. This family has suffered in the loss of their son and are trying to help others decide what is best for other children.

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  • How disgusting, some people are just dreadful!

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  • I feel for the poor family,so wrong.

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  • Just goes to show the depths the anti vaxxers will sink to to spread their lies and misinformation. I hope the people who know will let this family know they have way more supporters then haters. Keep up your good work

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  • I hope Riley’s parents know just how much support there is in the community for them and the message they have regarding vaccinations.


    • There appears to be overwhelming support for them.

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  • Incredible how some people are attacking Riley’s parents in such a disgusting way. I hope enough people reported that page so Facebook will close it!

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  • I rarely put any opinion on social media but this has prompted me to add my utmost support to Greg and Catherine and Olivia. How people can be so cruel has just gone to another level and whilst it is easy to say “take no notice,” this is beyond comprehension from a group of mindless, heartless idiots. Keep up the good work for Riley.

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  • Some people have no class. I was once on a page to help a young boy with a terminal illness when some misinformed person got onto the page and told everyone the boy had passed away and that we werw kust in it for the money, disgusting behaviour and very upsetting for the family

    Reply

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