Mum's sad snap of son who died from whooping cough symptoms

This is the devastating moment a Perth mother held her newborn son’s hand as he lay dying from whooping cough symptoms.

Catherine Hughes uploaded the heartbreaking picture to the Facebook page ‘Light for Riley’ saying it was the moment she realised 32-day-old Riley wasn’t going to make it, as he was too young to receive the whooping cough vaccine.

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Hooked up to tubes and flanked by his heartbroken, crying parents, the snap shows the tiny boy lying in a massive hospital bed being baptised at 4am.

Just 12 hours later his little heart stopped beating due to toxins released by the bacteria arising from the whooping cough.

The picture was taken two years ago and since then his mother, Catherine, has been campaigning for everyone to be vaccinated against the deadly disease.

“This is the moment my heart broke. This is the moment my life turned upside down,” Catherine captioned the photo.

“This is the moment I wanted to throw up in fear This is the moment where I just didn't want to let go of your hand. This is the moment I learned just how much I loved you.”

Catherine went on to detail the moment she learned that her beloved baby boy wasn’t going to make it, saying it felt like someone has reached into her chest and gripped her heart tightly.

“My immediate reaction was to challenge and ask questions about options, like this was something I could negotiate my way out of,” she wrote on her Facebook page.

“I thought of the conversations we'd had about the odds being slim of dying from whooping cough.

“I thought of our discussion when we saw brochures about grief and loss in the hospital and how we thought it was irrelevant to us.

“I thought of the fact that we'd done the right thing and vaccinated ourselves just a couple of years earlier and had always been supportive of vaccination.”

Catherine said she was “shocked” and “angry” that a vaccine-preventable disease “still killed children in this day and age”.

She is now on a mission to protect other families from having to suffer like she has and wants to educate people on the importance of getting the whooping cough vaccine.

"Whooping cough had destroyed my son’s life and I thought his death would destroy mine,” she said.

“And despite the immense pain, the tears, the heartbreak and the scrutiny, it hasn’t.

"I still have bad hours, and bad days, but I know that it’s important to appreciate that fact that I am still alive. Riley didn’t get his chance at a good life, and I will not waste mine.”