U.K. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has broken his silence on the Charlie Gard case, saying Thursday that he would do “anything” if his own child had been born with the same terminal illness.
READ: UPDATE: U.K. Doctors Turn Down Vatican Hospital’s Offer to Take In Terminal Baby Charlie Gard
“I feel absolutely for the parents,” Corbyn said, according to the Daily Mail.
He continued:
All I can say is that any parent would feel for those parents and say if it was my child that was going through a terrible, terrible trauma like this, a life threatening trauma, you’d move might and main to get them the best treatment they can. I fully understand that.
The politician refrained, however, from calling for the 11-month-old’s doctors to honor Charlie’s parents’ request to seek treatment in America.
Faithwire has been covering the Gard family’s tragic story for the past several weeks. Charlie’s parents, Chris Gard and Connie Yates, have fought every legal decision to take their son off life support. But the courts and many U.K. leaders — including Prime Minister Theresa May and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson — have stood by the doctors at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) in England, who would rather Charlie “die with dignity” than receive experimental, but potentially life-saving, treatment abroad.
“Any parent going through this would want their child to get the best possible treatment that could be found anywhere, and I think it is up to us to ensure they do get that best possible treatment,” Corbyn said Thursday. He noted, however, that it’s “difficult to judge what a … medically qualified person has assessed on the case. I haven’t seen that — I’m not medically qualified.”
According to the Daily Mail, Prime Minister Theresa May is preparing to be questioned by President Donald Trump tomorrow at the G20 summit of world leaders in Hamburg, Germany. The White House has requested a one-on-one, hour-long meeting with May at the gathering.
Trump has publicly announced his support for the Gard family and offered to help them in any way he can. Last night, a White House source told the Daily Mail that the president “is deeply moved by the heartbreaking situation facing Charlie Gard and his parents.”
MP Corbyn’s show of support for Gard comes on the same day as a scheduled rally in London to honor Charlie Gard. Thousands of demonstrators are expected to attend the 1 p.m. protest outside of 10 Downing Street, the official residence and the office of Prime Minister May.
Join us in our fight against @GreatOrmondSt to save Charlie! They CAN release him! DOWNING STREET 6PM TONIGHT! #GreatOrmondStreetHospital
— Charlie's fight (@Fight4Charlie) July 6, 2017
Downing Street is filling up 💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙#charliegard
— The Charlie Gard Foundation (@charliesfight) July 6, 2017
https://twitter.com/VioletKingg/status/883003127934443520
Please keep Charlie’s family in your prayers, and be sure to check back with Faithwire for more updates.