A NEW CHANCE FOR CHARLIE
In a stunning move, doctors say new drug could help him — and hospital asks judges to decide if it can be used
CHARLIE Gard won a third dramatic reprieve last night.
Doctors bowed to global pressure to give the desperately ill baby another chance.
After being handed fresh evidence, Great Ormond Street Hospital yesterday asked the High Court to reopen the agonising case.
The 11-month-old has twice survived plans to end his life support – last Friday and again this Monday. Pope Francis and Donald Trump have declared their support and yesterday seven international scientists came to Charlie’s rescue, urging his doctors to reconsider.
They are all experts in mitochondrial depletion syndrome, the incredibly rare genetic condition afflicting Charlie.
The courts have ruled there was no evidence a proposed experimental drug therapy would work. But the seven said: ‘There is substantial direct and indirect evidence.’ Charlie’s parents
Connie Yates and Chris Gard said the new evidence gave him a much higher chance of survival than previously thought.
They spent yesterday begging Great Ormond Street to let their son try the treatment.
After meeting the couple, the hospital said in a statement last night that international researchers ‘have communicated to us as late as the last 24 hours that they have fresh evidence about their proposed experimental treatment’. It added: ‘ We believe, in common with Charlie’s parents, it is right to explore this evidence.
‘Great Ormond Street Hospital is therefore giving the High Court the opportunity to objectively assess the claims of fresh evidence. It will be for the High Court to make its judgment on the facts.’
The little boy’s supporters – dubbed ‘Charlie’s Army’ – went wild with jubilation on social media. A family spokesman said the extraordinary move ‘ marked the end of an extremely traumatic and distressing week for his parents and the rest of his family’.
She added: ‘Connie and Chris are like any loving parents. They have always put Charlie’s needs first and will continue to do so as they only want the very best for him.
‘They are optimistic their son will soon get the treatment he needs and want to thank those people from around the world who have sent them so many moving and touching messages of support.’
Charlie is only the 16th sufferer worldwide of his rare type of mitochondrial disease, which saps energy from his muscles and organs and means his lungs are too weak to function alone.
Doctors say he is deaf, blind, brain damaged, in pain and beyond hope, and four courts have now ruled his ‘best interests’ are served by life-support being removed and him ‘dying with dignity’.
After an American specialist offered to treat Charlie with experimental nucleosides therapy, British doctors told the High Court it would not work because the drug would not be able to breach what is known as the ‘blood brain barrier’ to treat malfunctioning cells.
But the seven experts wrote in their letter to Great Ormond Street: ‘In fact, there is substantial direct and indirect evidence clearly demonstrating that [the drugs] cross the blood brain barrier.’
Miss Yates said yesterday: ‘There is potential for him to be a completely normal boy, but we don’t know, as you just don’t know until you try. There’s around a 10 per cent chance of this working for Charlie.’ She did not explain how she had arrived at that estimate.
She told Good Morning Britain: ‘We are not bad parents, we are there for him all the time, we are
Wednesday’s Daily Mail
‘Went wild with jubilation’
completely devoted to him and he’s not in pain and suffering. I promise everyone I would not sit there and watch my son in pain and suffering, I couldn’t do it.
‘Suicide and euthanasia are both illegal in this country, how can ending Charlie’s life be legal when there’s a chance? It is in his best interests to be given a chance to live.’
The seven specialists include the American doctor offering to treat Charlie, and a colleague, neither of whom can be named for legal reasons. Two others are from the papal children’s hospital in Rome, two are from the Vall d’Hebron research institute in Barcelona, and the seventh is an award-winning clinical geneticist at Cambridge University.
The experts, who all put their names to the letter, urged Great Ormond Street: ‘In light of this important new information... recon- sideration of treatment for Charlie Gard is respectfully advocated.’
The High Court, Court of Appeal, Supreme Court and European Court of Human Rights have all backed Great Ormond Street’s right to withdraw Charlie’s breathing tube.
The Great Ormond Street statement said: ‘Charlie’s condition is exceptionally rare, with catastrophic and irreversible brain damage. Our doctors have explored every medical treatment, including experimental nucleoside therapies. Independent medical experts agreed with our clinical team that this treatment would be unjustified.
‘Not only that, but they said it would be futile and would prolong Charlie’s suffering. This is not an issue about money or resources, but absolutely about what is right for Charlie. Our view has not changed. We believe it is right to seek the High Court’s view in light of the claimed new evidence.’
Earlier this week, the Pope called for mercy for Charlie, and his hospital offered treatment.
President Trump tweeted that he would be ‘delighted’ to help, and the American doctor and hospital also offered to treat Charlie for free – or even to send the experimental drugs to Britain.
But Great Ormond Street said it was ‘bound by the ruling of the High Court, which expressly for- bids us from transferring Charlie for nucleoside therapy anywhere’.
It said: ‘We endeavour to provide the best possible medical care for every single child we treat. We are proud of our colleagues, and proud of the work that they do. We are also immensely proud of the public support we have earned over the generations. We respect it greatly and know how precious it is.
‘The very last thing we want is for a patient to suffer, and our devoted medical teams do their very best day in, day out, for the children under their care. We respectfully acknowledge the offers of help from the White House, the Vatican and our colleagues in Italy, the United States and beyond.
‘We would like to reassure everyone that Great Ormond Hospital will continue to care for Charlie and his family with the utmost respect and dignity through this very difficult time.’
The High Court is likely to regard the new application as urgent, and it could be heard on Monday.