The parents of baby Charlie Gard are spending their “last precious moments” with their son after ending a long and hard-fought battle to bring him to the U.S. or the Vatican for treatment.
Chris Gard and Connie Yates now want to spend the “maximum amount of time they have left with Charlie”, according to the BBC.
Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital, where Charlie has been kept on a ventilator for months while doctors campaigned against his parents for him to “die with dignity” in the High Court, the Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom and even the European Court of Human Rights, have not confirmed when life support will be withdrawn.
Father Chris Gard delivered an emotional speech on the steps of the High Court yesterday as their most recent attempt to bring Charlie to New York to be treated with an experimental therapy pioneered by Dr Michio Hirano, saying that “time had run out” for his son.
“Put simply, this is about a sweet, gorgeous, innocent little boy, born with a rare disease, who had a real, genuine chance of life and a family who love him so very dearly – and that’s why we fought so hard for him,” he said.
“We are truly devastated, to say the least, that following the most recent MRI scan of Charlie’s muscles, as requested in a recent MDT meeting with Dr Hirano, as Charlie’s devoted and loving parents we have decided that it is no longer in Charlie’s best interests to pursue treatment and we will let our son go and be with the angels.”
Charlie’s parents did not hold back from criticising those who refused to release their baby so he could be treated abroad – at private expense – saying . “Our poor boy has been left to lie in hospital for months, without any treatment, while lengthy court battles have been fought.
“Tragically, having had Charlie’s medical notes reviewed by independent experts, we now know had Charlie been given the treatment sooner he would have had the potential to be a normal, healthy little boy,” he said.
“Charlie has been left with his illness to deteriorate devastatingly to the point of no return.”