'Burying my child for the third time is like a horror movie', says mother of Ben Mallia, 12
June Dunn spoke to ITV News Anglia's Katie Ridley about the thought of burying her child for the third time.
The mum of a 12-year-old who died 27 years ago has said having to bury her son for the third time will be "heartbreaking", after discovering his DNA had been stored at a hospital.
June Dunn's son Ben Mallia had a rare brain disease Dentatorubal-Pallidoluysian Atrophy (DRPLA), and died from pneumonia in 1997.
Eighteen months after Ben's death, Mrs Dunn discovered that his brain had been removed during an autopsy and stored without her permission at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge where he died.
She recently discovered that Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital in London, where he was treated, had been storing his DNA.
"It's heartbreaking," Mrs Dunn, a mother of three and grandmother of six from Fordham in Cambridgeshire, told ITV News Anglia.
"I can't sleep, the thought of my children and them having to go through this again, even though they are adults and have children of their own.
"It takes you back to when he first died.
"I don't think there's any words I can actually put it into... It's so complex. There's so many different emotions going on at the moment."
In the late 1990s bosses at Addenbrooke's Hospital admitted Ben's brain had been taken for research without the family being told.
Mrs Dunn now faces a third burial for Ben, following the return of samples taken by Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital Trust.
Mrs Dunn said: "You bury your child and you bury them whole and you think that's a one-off.
"So you do everything you can in your power because that is the last thing you are going to do for your child.
"Then to find out, I had to bury him again, and now I've got to look at burying him again. It doesn't make sense.
"It's like something from a horror movie. It's like a bad nightmare and you want to wake up and it isn't real.”
Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital Trust apologised to Ms Dunn for any distress, adding that storing a small amount of cells as a backup was standard procedure.
A spokesperson for the trust said: "We recognise how difficult the circumstances are when a child dies. We will work with Ben’s family to address any concerns.”
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