Meet Our Representatives - Sue & Dave Hughes

We live in a small village called Bignall End, between Newcastle-under-Lyme and Crewe. “Our Dan” was the village postman, so he was well known to most people in our community. He walked 5 miles per day on his round, he ate properly, looked after himself, didn’t smoke or take drugs. He was a fit and healthy 28 year old young man who loved sport; he had played football since he was 10 years old and had captained his local team the weekend before he died. There was no reason for anyone to think he would be taken from us so suddenly…

“I’m going up now Dad.”

“OK son, I’ll see you later.”

This conversation seemed pretty normal at 9:30 P.M. on the evening of March the 18th 2015. Little did we know that it would be the last time anyone would speak to him. My wife Sue and I had been chatting with him over dinner as normal. He was his usual chirpy self; laughing and joking as he pretty much always did. Sue had gone to bed earlier, leaving us working on a project on his iPad. She heard Dan get up and go to the bathroom at around 1 A.M. on the 19th of March. He returned to his room, closed his door and went to sleep. He never woke up!

There are no words to describe the devastation and loss of Dan’s passing. It has had a huge effect on us as his parents, his sister Kim, his mates and the community as a whole. But it has also galvanised us as a family into trying to do something about it. Being asked to become CRY representatives for Stoke-on-Trent was a complete surprise as well as being a huge honour for us. It’s something we take very seriously.

Raising awareness is one of our key objectives; we have been featured on BBC TV Midlands Today on two occasions, numerous radio stations and have had articles published in newspapers and online media outlets. As well as our own area, we have represented CRY in Preston, Hull, Cumbria, Cheshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, to name but a few.

Our fundraising work has raised over £340,000 for CRY which has enabled us to stage 37 screening days where 3,522 young people have been seen and 164 have been referred. We have also been able to buy a new van for CRY which bears Dan’s name and travels all over the country with the screening teams. In addition to the van, we have also purchased an ECG machine and made a donation to the research centre. Last year alone, Dan’s memorial fund paid for the screening of 1,057 young people; but we are not ones to rest on our laurels, so plans are already in place to beat that number this year as we look to help CRY reduce their waiting list.

Last year, we were honoured to get to meet the then Prime minister Boris Johnson at 10 Downing Street, where we got to tell him about Dan and the importance of the work that CRY does. Our local MP, Aaron Bell, is also very supportive of what we do and has been involved in our fundraising.

I am also a member of CRY’s bereavement support team, having spent 2 years training between 2018 and 2020. I have now provided support to a number of bereaved fathers. Again, this is something that I take very seriously.

So, as you can see, CRY has become a large part of our lives since we lost our precious son. My wife Sue, daughter Kim and I find great comfort in the work that we do. We can think of no better legacy for him than to know that he is having a positive impact on other young people’s lives.

We will continue with our work in his name. Love you son…

Proud parents Sue & Dave Hughes.