“Our parental rights have been stripped away. We can’t even take our own son home to die.”
These are the heart-wrenching words spoken by the parents of 10-month-old Charlie Gard, who is scheduled to be taken off of life support tomorrow.
Hearts are breaking across the world for Connie Yates and Chris Gard, London parents who have literally fought to the death for their precious baby boy who was diagnosed with a disease called mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome. Only 16 people have ever been diagnosed with the rare condition that doctors have deemed terminal for their son, Charlie.
Though treatment options have been exhausted in the U.K., Connie and Chris were determined to fly their son to the U.S. for potentially life-saving experimental treatment. However, doctors have asserted that the boy must be taken off life support now in order to “die with dignity.”
After raising 1.6 million dollars and battling several rounds with the European Court of Human Rights, the young couple has tragically lost their fight.
Charlie’s life support will officially “run out” tomorrow.
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“The fourth of August 2016 was the best day of our lives; the day that Charlie was born. The 30th of [June], 2017, is going to be the worst day of our lives,” said Connie through painful sobs.
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And to worsen the devastating blow, the doctors are also now denying that Charlie be taken home to die in the peace and comfort of his own home.
“We know the day our son’s gonna die, and we don’t even get a say in what happens to him,” said Chris in an emotional home video that the couple released today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XueR4V2RHAI
According to Connie, when Great Ormond Street Hospital originally started talking about taking them to court in November, they were offered up three options for palliative care, but that has now been reduced to one.
“We’ve been talking about what palliative care meant. One option was to let Charlie go home to die,” she said. “We chose to take Charlie home to die. That is our last wish. We promised our little boy every single day that we would take him home.”
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Not only are they being denied their “final wish” to take their son home, but hospice is no longer an option either.
The doctors are requiring that Charlie dies within the grim walls of Great Ormond Street Hospital in London.
“We wanna give him a bath at home. We want to sit on the sofa with him. We want to sleep in a bed with him,” said Chris as he choked back tears. “We want to put him in a cot that he’s never slept in, but we are now being denied that.”
But despite their unimaginable grief, these persevering parents have not lost faith in the fighting spirit of their little man.
“He’s still fighting over there. Believe me,” Chris added. “He’s still fighting. He’s a little fighter, he’s a little trooper, and he’s a soldier. And he will fight. He’ll fight to the very end. And he’s still fighting, but we’re not allowed to fight for him anymore.”
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“Our parental rights have been stripped away. We can’t even take our own son home to die.”
Though Connie and Chris are “utterly heartbroken,” they wanted to take a few minutes out of their day to thank those who have so generously supported them in their journey.
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“Charlie will die tomorrow knowing that he was loved by thousands…thank you to everyone for all your support,” they posted to Charlie’s Facebook page today.
Preceding what is surely to be the worst day of this couple’s life, I pray that God may grant them the peace that only His presence can provide.
