Daily Mirror

I’LL NEVER GIVE UP FIGHTING FOR MY ALFIE

Kate’s vow in court bid to keep brain-damaged tot alive

- BY PAUL BYRNE

THE mum of brain-damaged Alfie Evans has vowed to never stop fighting to save his life.

Kate James, 20, will today beg a judge to rule doctors must not let the 20-month-old tot die.

She said: “If it doesn’t go our way, I’ll appeal. I’m blessed to have him.”

If it does not go our way we’ll appeal. I’m blessed to have Alfie

KATE JAMES ON THEIR FIGHT TO KEEP SON ALIVE

KATE James has told of the heartache of watching son Alfie Evans cling to life while she battles with doctors to keep him alive.

And as the 20-year-old prepares for the latest round of that court fight today, she vowed to do everything she and partner Tom Evans can to give the brain-damaged youngster every chance of survival.

Speaking for the first time about their ordeal, Kate said yesterday: “The pain that you feel when you get told your child is going to die. It is physical.

“You can feel it all over you body, it is not just in your head. Your body aches. I don’t know how to explain it, it is an unbelievab­le feeling, it comes from all over.”

Kate and Tom, 21, from Liverpool, will today beg High Court judge Mr Justice Hayden to let them take 20-month-old Alfie abroad in the hope a new medical team can prolong his life.

Doctors at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in the city insist he has no chance or recovering from his rare neurologic­al degenerati­ve disorder and prolonging his life would be “unkind and inhumane”. Kate accepts the judge, who is likely to make his “life or death” decision next week, may agree with them. But she added: “If it does not go our way we will appeal.

“We would be distraught but the way I have to look at it is me and Tom have done everything in our power to do what we can for Alfie up to now.

“I am blessed to have Alfie and blessed for each day we have with him.

“I feel like, although Alfie is still here, and we are still fighting for him. I am grieving for his life, for the person he once was.”

Kate told how Alfie was the “best thing in the world” to happen to her and Tom when the tot was born in May 2016.

She said: “Alfie was a shock because we were not trying for a baby.

“He was absolutely gorgeous, he was a dream. And he suits his name. He has got the face of a little Alfie.”

But the couple started having concerns about their son a few months later when they noticed he was not progressin­g as normal.

Kate added: “He was not reaching his milestones, sitting up, hand-eye co-ordination. He was not really babbling much and his swallowing reflex wasn’t very good. At the age of seven months he was still on puree, like three-month baby food.

“Other than that, though, he was the perfect baby. He had the funniest laugh. Tummy giggles right from the get-go. He was just a loving boy, he was so content.”

Kate took Alfie to her GP three times but was told there was little to worry about. But she knew things were not right and asked her health visitor to have a word with the doctor. In November 2016 medics agreed to look at her son and he had an MRI scan. Weeks later, he fell seriously ill and was rushed to Alder Hey.

Kate said: “He was dead lethargic. He was floppy and lifeless. He was still breathing but it was shallower.

“His eyes, I was clicking in front of his eyes and he was not responsive and then the jerking came on. All of his limbs started jerking and his eyes started rolling back.”

Alfie started having seizures. Kate added: “I would run away and scream.

It was traumatisi­ng.” He deteriorat­ed and was taken to intensive care.

Fighting back tears, Kate said: “Me and Tom broke down in hysterics. Our baby is on life support. There is nothing worse to hear.”

Things got even worse on New Year’s Eve when doctors feared Alfie’s life was coming to an end.

His mum added: “We were told he had four to six hours to live. I was not aware you could turn kids’ machines off, I thought you just waited for them to pass. Ever since then every meeting we have had has never been about Alfie’s progress, it has just been, ‘Take him off life support.’” Kate does not share Tom’s Catholic faith but does believe in God and said: “I do believe where there is life, their should be hope.

“The toll it has taken on us is unbelievab­le. It has made me stronger, don’t get me wrong. There are times when me and Tom will go to a meeting and Tom will come out in floods of tears and I will walk out with the straightes­t face and I will say, stop crying, take it as it comes. It is unreal. You can’t contemplat­e it. I will sit there and say even though I have nearly lost my child I could still never sit with another parent who has lost or is about to lose their child and comfort them. Because there is no comfort that you can give.

“And that is one thing that I have had to accept. When we were told Alfie was going to die, that is one thing I searched for, I was going round asking people, ‘Am I going to be ok? Is everything going to be ok?’

“I wanted someone to turn round and tell me everything is going to be ok, I was looking for answers that I was never going to get.

“Because I was so desperate I wanted some comfort but you don’t get comfort from anywhere or anything, except, the most comfort we get is when we are lying by his bedside. That is the best it gets.” Tom said: “It is a bond I have never seen before, Kate and Alfie, you just could not separate them. She is so devoted. I could not have asked for a better partner and Alfie could not have asked for a better mum.” Kate and Tom were at Liverpool family court yesterday on the hearing’s fourth day. They will today give evidence to Mr Justice Hayden. Alfie is in a “deep coma”. Doctors said he has a “catastroph­ic degradatio­n” of brain tissue, leaving him in a “semi-vegetative” state. Experts do not know what caused his condition but new scans last week revealed further brain damage, the judge was told. One said his condition is such a rarity it could even one day be called “Alfie’s disease”.

 ??  ?? HEARTACHE Alfie on his life support APPEAL Kate and Tom with placard
HEARTACHE Alfie on his life support APPEAL Kate and Tom with placard
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 ??  ?? BATTLE Kate with partner Tom Evans
BATTLE Kate with partner Tom Evans
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 ??  ?? TRAUMA Couple arrive at the hearing yesterday
TRAUMA Couple arrive at the hearing yesterday
 ??  ?? DECISION Mr Justice Hayden. Above, our story on plea to him
DECISION Mr Justice Hayden. Above, our story on plea to him
 ??  ?? BABY JOY Mum and son after his birth
BABY JOY Mum and son after his birth

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