The parents of a terminally ill baby have given up their legal battle over treatment for their son.
Charlie Gard, whose first birthday is August 4, suffers from a rare genetic disease called mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome. The condition has robbed him of the ability to move his limbs, eat or even breathe unassisted.
Specialists at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London came to the conclusion that it would be in little Charlie’s best interest to go off life support in order to undergo palliative care. A team of specialists in Barcelona, providing a second opinion, concurred with the heartbreaking decision.
But Charlie’s parents, Chris Gard and Connie Yates, fought tirelessly to take their child to the US for experimental treatment. They took their case to the courts, and then to the European Court of Human Rights, where their appeals were denied.
Now, the couple have given up their legal fight. They made their decision following the latest medical reports and scans.
“It’s too late for Charlie,” Grant Armstrong, the couple’s attorney, said Monday according to the Associated Press. “The damage has been done.”
In a statement delivered to press outside the UK High Court, Chris Gard said “too much time has been wasted.”
“There is one simple reason why treatment cannot now go ahead: We are now in July and our poor boy has been left to lie in hospital for months without any treatment while lengthy court battles have been fought,” he told reporters. “Had Charlie been given the treatment sooner he would have had the potential to be a normal healthy little boy.”
“Despite his condition in January, Charlie’s muscles were in pretty good shape and he was far from showing catastrophic irreversible structural brain damage. Charlie’s been left with his illness to deteriorate, devastatingly, to the point of no return.”
Chris went on to describe his son as a “warrior.”
“Our son is an absolute warrior,” he said. “His body heart and soul may soon be gone but his spirit will live on for eternity and it will make a difference to people’s lives for years to come. We will make sure of that.”
He also asked the media for privacy, before addressing his baby son directly.
“We are now going to spend our last precious moments with our son Charlie, who unfortunately won’t make his first birthday in just under two weeks,” he said. “To Charlie, we say from Mummy and Daddy we love you so much. We always have and we always will and we are so sorry we couldn’t save you.”
Our thoughts are with the family during this unimaginably difficult time.
