TOMORROW (August 11), Lucas Munslow could have been celebrating his sixth birthday. Instead, his family will visit his grave and let off balloons into the sky in memory of a “beautiful” baby boy who died a “probably preventable” death. Lucas, from Flint, died at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, Bodelwyddan aged nine months of acute bacterial meningitis on May 18, 2019.
Less than 24 hours earlier, his parents had been told by staff at the hospital that he had viral tonsillitis but was safe to return home. Last November, following a two-day full inquest, coroner John Gittins found that hospital staff caring for him had exhibited “poor practice”. Lucas returned to Glan Clwyd in the afternoon of May 18 after his parents said he “went stiff” and was “staring into space”, but his condition deteriorated and he was pronounced dead at 11.
50pm. More than five years have passed, but for his parents, Nathan and Kimberley, their grief – and their fight for change – endures. “I miss him so much.
Everybody loved him,” Nathan said. “I looked after him when Kim was at work. I saw him stand up on his own two feet for the first time.
I don’t think dads get heard (as much as mums) sometimes, which is very difficult. “He’s here with us. I don’t think he’ll ever leave us.
” Indeed, Lucas may be gone but he is far from forgotten. A section of the Munslows’ living room is now adorned with priceless memories of Lucas, comprising photos of his “cheeky little smile”, hi.