The legal battle for life has come to an end for terminally-ill British baby Charlie Gard after his parents ended their fight to bring their son to the U.S. for experimental treatment.
Chris Gard and Connie Yates announced their decision on Monday to withdraw from the emotional case, saying that it’s “too late” for treatment to work.
Their decision comes just a week after two different experts flew in to London to evaluate Charlie’s condition. Both found the likeliness of treatment at improving the child’s quality of life at this point to be extremely improbable.
The 11-month-old was born healthy in August of 2016, but was diagnosed with an extremely rare DNA disorder at just two months old. Mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome is a terminal condition believed to have only been found in 16 people ever. It causes rapid weakening of the muscles and brain damage—making treatments almost nonexistent.
But not completely.
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In the early stages of his diagnosis, Chris and Connie raised nearly $2 million to bring their son to the United States for experimental treatment. Doctors at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) in London felt that the parent’s efforts were not in the child’s best interest, and that Charlie should be able to “die with dignity.”
And so the legal battle began.
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Chris and Connie’s appeal was rejected by London’s High Court, the Court of Appeals, Supreme Court in London and the European Court of Human Rights—all of which granted doctors at GOSH the right to remove the child from life support as they see fit. But a petition with over 350,000 signatures, and “fresh evidence” that the experimental treatment would work, led High Court Judge Nicholas Francis to conduct one final evaluation of the case.
In the meantime, support flowed in from leaders across the globe, including U.S. President Donald Trump and Pope Francis of Italy.
U.S. Congress even moved to grant Charlie and his family U.S. Citizenship rights last week. However, the measure was included in a bill that still needed to be passed by the house and senate, meaning more delays for Charlie.