Charlie Gard’s parents, Connie Yates and Chris Gard, released an emotional statement on Monday morning, blaming “wasted time” for their tragic decision to stop their fight for Charlie’s life.
The couple also penned a few, heartbreaking messages that were directly addressed to their baby son, who suffers from mitochondrial depletion disorder, a terminal illness.
“There is one simple reason for Charlie’s muscles deteriorating to the extent they are in now – TIME,” the statement read in part. “A whole lot of wasted time.”
The text continued, making it no secret that the parents blame extensive delays as the family embarked in a months-long legal battle with the hospital caring for Charlie in their son’s inability to heal. They wrote, “Had Charlie been given the treatment sooner he would have had the potential to be a normal, healthy little boy.”
The lengthy comments also expressed the couple’s love for Charlie as well as a heartbreaking apology for not being able to save their young son, imploring him to “sleep tight” as he will soon be taken off life support.
“We are so sorry we couldn't save you….Sleep tight our beautiful little boy,” Charlie Gard’s father says tearfully to end press conference pic.twitter.com/JWshAsLJS9
— CBS News (@CBSNews) July 24, 2017
“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,” that portion read. “We had the chance but we weren’t allowed to give you tyhat chance. Sweet dreams baby. Sleep tight our beautiful little boy.”
Yates and Gard said that the past year has been “the best, the worst and ultimately life-changing months” of their lives, telling the public and the press that all of their efforts have been aimed at saving their son’s life.
But in acknowledging that muscle damage is now so significant that there is no chance of meaningful recovery, the parents said that letting Charlie go is one of the hardest things they will ever have to do.
“It’s no longer in Charlie’s best interests to pursue treatment,” the statement read. “And we will let our son go and be with the angels.”
Yates and Gard said that they do not believe Charlie is braid dead and that “he still responds” to them. They also said that they never believed their son was in pain or suffering or else they never would have fought on the way they did.
“The prospect for improvement is unfortunately now too low for Charlie,” the statement read. “Our doctors in America and Italy were still waiting to treat Charlie after reviewing the MRI head scan from July 2017, as they still felt that there was a chance of meaningful improvement in Charlie’s brain. However, due to deterioration in his muscles, there is now no way back for Charlie. Time that hs been wasted. It is time that has sadly gone against him.”
This is a breaking news story. Stay tuned for updates.