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A mother gave birth to her baby early so her partner could meet her daughter, just two days before she died of kidney cancer.
Beccy Hunter was delighted that Jamie Hunter, 38, was given the chance to hold her 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, he made it a point to make sure his partner saw Harper’s birth.
She gave birth early and Jamie, a soccer teacher and coach, was able to greet his daughter, but sadly she died two days later.
The grief-stricken mother of six endured a two-year battle to get Jamie’s name recorded on her daughter’s birth certificate.
Jamie Hunter was able to see his daughter Harper-May two days before she died of kidney cancer, after Beccy Hunter gave birth early.
Beccy Hunter was delighted that Jamie Hunter, 38, was given the chance to briefly hold little Harper-May when she was born in May 2020.
The process cost her £3,500 and caused her a huge headache, all because they weren’t married.
Beccy, who changed her last name from Flint just before Jamie died, had to go to lawyers and arrange for DNA samples to be collected from her deceased partner and their newborn baby.
This involved Jamie’s body being moved from a funeral home to Heartlands Hospital in Birmingham, meaning she was unable to go see him for three weeks.
Beccy then had to meet with social services and appear in court to explain why she wanted Jamie on the birth certificate.
Beccy, from Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, said: ‘It’s been hell, it makes me so angry we had to go through this. If we had been married, they would have taken it as gospel that he was the father.
‘It’s just because the law is so out of date. Today, many people are not married when they have children.
Having already spoken to the registry office, Beccy knew that naming Jamie as the father was not going to be an easy process.
Beccy said: ‘I had to arrange for a company in London to obtain a DNA sample from Jamie. It meant I couldn’t go see him at the undertaker for weeks in case he contaminated the body.
Beccy had to endure a two-year battle to get Jamie’s name recorded on her 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, visits her father Jamie’s grave
The mother explained that the DNA would have to have been taken from Jamie’s brother if it hadn’t been taken from him. He had to be rushed to Heartlands Hospital to have it done because it’s rarely done.
Beccy said: ‘It wasn’t nice to Harper either. She was only three weeks old and they came in, all masked, to take the sample from her. But that was only part of the saga.
Beccy was then interviewed by social services, which she found difficult: ‘They wanted to know if Jamie wanted to be a father and I had to show that I was a fit mother. I don’t know what difference that made, but this was all about consent.
‘When an unmarried couple registers a birth, they go to the registry office together and in this way the father consents to be named on the birth certificate. The difficulty here was that Jamie wasn’t here to demonstrate his consent.
The wait for his case to be heard in court was delayed due to the delays. 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 stressful that I was in pieces. I had never been in court before, I felt like a criminal.
‘Why did I have to stand in front of a judge when I had done nothing wrong? I spent most of the time crying and the judges, these big men who are used to dealing with a lot of criminal cases, ended up crying too.
Beccy finally obtained a birth certificate in Jamie’s name in July 2022, more than two years after Harper-May’s birth.
When Beccy was finally able to attend court to get Jamie’s name on the birth certificate, she said she broke down in tears in front of the judges.
“After I explained what it meant to me and Harper, they looked at each other and said, ‘We’re all on board and we’re going to pass this.'”
However, that was not the end of the process because Beccy later had to apply for another birth certificate.
He finally had the copy in his hand, complete with Jamie’s name, 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 full certificate. He had not been able to look at the original where it said father and there was only a blank space. It was wrong.
‘For Jamie, being a father was all he ever wanted. Why should Harper grow up looking at her birth certificate with her father as a blank? I did it for Harper.
If we had been married, they would have just put your name on the certificate. It’s completely wrong. We thought about getting married but everything happened so fast with his illness.
“There just wasn’t time to arrange a wedding, I was eight months pregnant and our goal was to get him there to see Harper born.”
He gave me a ring two days before he died and I changed my name to Hunter so that Harper would have the same name when he grew up.
‘The whole process is wrong and we have to raise awareness to try to change it. I feel that if I can help someone in the same unfortunate situation as me, then it will be worth it.’