Charlie Gard’s parents – Chris Gard and Connie Yates from Bedfont, London – have decided to end their legal battle to save their critically ill baby’s life. After five long months of fighting in court, they have given up on their fight to have Charlie flown to the United States for an experimental treatment, because it is now said to be too late for the treatment to work.
The parents held an emotional hearing yesterday where they explained that they were giving up on their fight for Charlie’s life by way of their right to take Charlie to the US where he could be treated with nucleoside bypass therapy (NBT).
They had initially hoped that the NBT treatment would bring Charlie a long way towards recovery from the rare genetic condition that he got hereditarily from his parents.
Charlie’s 1st birthday is coming up
Charlie was born last year on 4 August, so his first birthday is coming up in the next week or so. Sadly, he will soon be taken off the life support machine that is keeping him alive at Great Ormond Street Hospital, so he will tragically not live to even age 1.
Grant Armstrong, speaking on behalf of the parents, stunned the central London courtroom (which was packed full with spectators) when he announced that due to Charlie’s “extensive muscle atrophy,” they had decided that the baby had lost any chance to have any kind of “meaningful life.” At this point, Connie Yates, Charlie’s mother, read out a statement explaining why they were choosing to end their five-month legal battle for her baby’s life.
Everyone in the court – the couple’s friends, family, leagues of solicitors, and even journalists – began to cry as Yates teared up giving her statement, speaking about her “beautiful” baby and how what she and Charlie’s father were deciding to do was the same as what any parent would do in the same situation. It was a tough decision, but they’re bravely facing it head on.
The hospital spoke out against the NBT pioneer
After Yates made the announcement of their decision to give up, the Great Ormond Street Hospital spoke out against the American neurology expert, Professor Michio Hirano, who got their hopes up that Charlie’s life could be saved using NBT. The statement from the Great Ormond Street Hospital said that they felt “surprise and disappointment” upon learning last week that Hirano hadn’t even taken a look at Charlie’s brain scans or his medical documents before getting his parents’ hopes up.
The hospital added that Professor Hirano had also ignored the opinions of other experts and also ignored the judgements of the court in all of the five months. They added that the professor has “a financial interest” in the use of NBT, which they claim he could have profited from, had Charlie been flown to the US to use it. So, what the hospital is saying, really, is that Professor Hirano never really cared about Charlie and he played on the emotions of the baby’s parents for profit because he’s callous and morally empty.
Yates’ statement brought tears to everyone’s eyes
The statement from Yates brought tears to the eyes of everyone in the court. With Charlie’s father Chris Gard at her side for emotional support, she said, “Mummy and Daddy love you so much, Charlie.
We always have and we always will, and we are so sorry that we couldn’t save you, but we weren’t allowed to. Sweet dreams. baby. Sleep tight, our beautiful little boy.” Nothing else needed to be said, but still, after Yates’ statement, Armstrong stepped in and said, “It doesn’t get rawer than that.” Yates and Gard said emotional farewells to their loved ones, supporters, and the staff of the court, before leaving the courtroom.