Heartbreaking, baby Charlie’s first picnic as last legal deadline looms
IT’S a touching family portrait of loving parents enjoying the summer sunshine with their baby.
But despite the appearance of normality, Connie Yates and Chris Gard are masking the torment of waiting for judges to decide the fate of son Charlie today.
It is their last hope of a reprieve so medical treatment can continue for the rare genetic condition affecting his organs and muscles. They are pleading with the European Court of Human Rights to hear their appeal against the decision by British courts to allow Charlie to die.
If the judges refuse to take the case, doctors at Great Ormond Street Hospital have permission to withdraw the ten-monthold’s life support from midnight tonight.
The poignant weekend picnic in the roof-top garden of the London hospital was a surprise organised by nurses.
‘Charlie was awake the whole time,’ said Miss Yates, 31. ‘It was wonderful for him to feel the sun on his face and the wind in his hair. We put on some music and Chris and I lay down next to Charlie. For the first time in months we felt like a normal family.’
The gesture ‘was incredibly thoughtful and kind’, said Miss Yates. She added: ‘They even bought food. Then they left Chris and I alone with Charlie for over two hours.’ Her son was born healthy but was admitted to hospital before he was two months old. Doctors have said he is severely brain damaged with no hope of recovery.
They also said he was not ‘consistently able to open his eyes enough to be able to see’. The High Court and Court of Appeal have rejected his parents’ plea to take him to the US for experimental treatment funded by £1.3million from well-wishers.
Last week the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal, leading to today’s ruling.