We just couldn’t give up on him... Charlie’s parents in new court battle to let him live
CHARLIE Gard’s parents embark today on a dramatic new court battle to save him.
Connie Yates and Chris Gard will plead with London’s Appeal Court to overturn last month’s High Court’s ruling that he should be allowed to die.
They have refused to give up hope for their nine-month-old son who is desperately ill with a rare genetic condition.
Last night Miss Yates, 31, of Bedfont, south-west London, said: ‘We were devastated by the result of the last hearing. But somehow Chris and I have pulled together and picked ourselves up as a family. We had to for Charlie’s sake. Charlie is still strong and stable. He is growing more beautiful by the day and we knew we couldn’t just give up on him.’
The couple have dispensed with the services of their former solicitors, Bindmans, and have hired a new legal team, led by eminent QC Richard Gordon. He is instructed by a new firm of lawyers, Harris da Silva Solicitors.
The new lawyers did not want to comment ahead of today’s application. But it is understood they are exploring whether human rights laws could be used to give
‘He is growing more beautiful by the day’
Charlie another chance. Last month, the baby boy’s parents were dealt a crushing blow when the High Court decided he should be allowed to die. Mr Gard, 32, sobbed ‘No’ as Mr Justice Francis concluded ‘with the heaviest of hearts’ to reject the distraught parents’ wishes.
Charlie’s type of mitochondrial syndrome is so rare, he is only the 16th sufferer worldwide. The condition saps energy from organs and muscles, and he is being kept alive on a ventilator.
But Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital, where he is in intensive care, wants to withdraw the ventilator and allow Charlie to ‘die with dignity’.
His British doctors believe there is no hope, but his parents have found a US specialist willing to try an experimental therapy. Their battle prompted 83,000 well- wishers to donate more than £1.3million to a GoFundMe online fundraising page funding the US treatment.
Before he was hired, the couple’s new lawyer Charles da Silva wrote on his firm’s Facebook page that the High Court ruling ‘highlights that not only doctors but judges can get it wrong too’.
A Bindmans spokesman was unavailable for comment.