The fight to save Charlie Gard is apparently coming to an end, after his parents decided to end the legal challenge after learning some devastating news over the weekend.
They said “time had run out” for little Charlie, when the doctor interested in attempting experimental treatment saw the results of the latest MRI scan and said he is refusing to do the treatment.
A lawyer representing the family said “the parents worst nightmare had been confirmed” and that American neurologist Dr. Michia Hirano said it was now “too late” to give him the nucleoside therapy that could’ve given him a small chance at survival.
From The Guardian:
Grant Armstrong, representing Charlie’s parents, told the high court in London: “For Charlie, it’s too late, time has run out, irreversible muscular damage has been done and the treatment can no longer be a success.
”He said the parents had made the most painful of decisions, that only parents can make.”
Armstrong said: “Charlie has waited patiently for treatment. Due to delay, that window of opportunity has been lost.”
The couple felt that continuing their fight would cause Charlie pain, he said. The case was “worthy of a Greek tragedy”.
Armstrong said Charlie’s parents hoped to set up a foundation and they wanted lessons to be learned from the case. “Dark days lie ahead for these parents,” he said. “The parents wish to treasure their remaining time with Charlie, however short that may be.”
The family has been in court fighting the hospital to explore other options to save their son, but the hospital preferred to just let the baby die. It is unclear as to whether or not Dr. Hirano would’ve been able to apply the treatment if he’d been able to get to Charlie sooner.
Charlie’s parents are looking to set up a foundation so Charlie’s voice “continues to be heard” and that others going through something similar in the future hopefully won’t have to go through the same thing.
Faithwire has been following this story for well over a month, first picking up the story back in the middle of June. Their fight seemed almost unimaginable, that parents would have to fight a hospital and the court simply to make a medical decision for their own child.
Tragic news all around. Prayers for this family as they’ve had to deal with an unthinkable tragedy with the added mess of a media circus and legal drama.