Charlie’s parents finally give up the fight
Baby’s mother hits out at legal delays which she says robbed him of chance to survive
THE MOTHER of Charlie Gard yesterday claimed legal delays had robbed her son of the chance to receive treatment which could have prolonged his life
Connie Yates criticised the failure to try an experimental therapy as she and Chris Gard, Charlie’s father, confirmed they were bringing to an end the court battle they have fought over their son’s treatment and “let our son go and be with the angels”.
Ms Yates told a High Court judge who has overseen the dispute that if 11-month-old Charlie had been treated at the start of the year he would have had the potential to be a “normal, healthy little boy”.
Doctors at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London did not agree. Lawyers representing the hospital told Mr Justice Francis that the “clinical picture” six months ago had shown irreversible damage to Charlie’s brain.
They said the “unstoppable effects” of Charlie’s rare illness had become plainer as weeks passed.
A barrister representing Charlie’s parents yesterday drew the five-month legal battle to a close at a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London.
Grant Armstrong told the judge that the couple had decided to stop pushing for Charlie to be allowed to undergo a therapy trial overseen by a specialist in New York after reviewing new scan results.
The couple wept as, in a statement read from the witness box, Ms Yates told a court packed with lawyers, relatives, supporters and journalists: “We are now going to spend our last precious moments with our son Charlie, who unfortunately won’t make his first birthday in just under two weeks’ time.”
Ms Yates said the latest scan results had forced a change of heart. She said: “Our son has an extremely rare disease for which there is no accepted cure, but that does not mean that this treatment would not have worked, and it certainly does not mean that this shouldn’t have been tried. We have been asking for this short trial for the past eight months. Charlie did have a real chance of getting better if only therapy was started sooner. It was never false hope, as confirmed by many experts. “Now we will never know.” Ms Yates added: “Our poor boy has been left to just lie in hospital for months without any treatment whilst lengthy court battles have been fought.
“We have been told time and time again that Charlie has a ‘progressive disease’ but rather than allow treatment for him with a medication that was widely accepted to have no side effects, Charlie has been left with his illness to deteriorate, sadly, to the point of no return.”
Barrister Katie Gollop QC, who led Great Ormond Street’s legal team, told the judge: “Charlie’s parents believe that his brain was not damaged, that it was normal on the MRI scan in January and that treatment could have been effective at that time.”
But she added: “There remains no agreement on these issues. Great Ormond Street Hospital treats patients and not scans. All aspects of the clinical picture and all of Charlie’s observations indicated that his brain was irreversibly damaged and that (the therapy) was futile.”
It was never false hope, as confirmed by many experts. Connie Yates on the fight for her son to undergo experimental therapy.
HE WAS their warrior son and it broke their hearts to give up their battle to save him.
Exposed to the world’s searchlight and denied the chance to live out their family tragedy in private, the parents of little Charlie Gard could only apologise to him. “So sorry that we couldn’t save you.”
Connie Yates and Chris Gard had watched for 11 and a half months as the son they brought home from hospital believing to be healthy disintegrated before their eyes.
They could have been rendered helpless by the ferocity of the DNA depletion syndrome that had afflicted him. Instead, they were empowered. Their fight touched the world. It went all the way to the White House and the Vatican, but in the end it was science, not emotion, that brought it to a close.
“Our son is an absolute warrior and we could not be prouder of him and we will miss him terribly,” Ms Yates told the High Court, as she and Mr Gard accepted that the fight had to end. Time had simply run out, their barrister, Grant Armstrong, told the judge. The damage to Charlie’s muscle and tissue was irreversible.
“His parents’ worst fears have been confirmed. It is now too late to treat Charlie.”
Ms Yates’ words as the case drew to a close spoke to the soul of every parent.
“Mummy and Daddy love you so much, Charlie,” she said. “We always have and we always will, and we are so sorry that we couldn’t save you.
“We had the chance but we weren’t allowed to give you that chance.”
Time, she said, had been wasted. “Had Charlie been given treatment sooner he would have had the potential to be a normal, healthy little boy.”
The rarity of the disease he inherited and the absence of an accepted cure did not mean, she said, that treatment would not have worked.
It certainly did not mean it should not have been tried.
She and Mr Gard had asked for a three-month trial, in case it yielded a hint of improvement.
“Charlie did have a real chance of getting better if only therapy was started sooner,” Ms Yates said.
“It was never false hope. Now we will never know what would have happened.
“We truly believe that any parent would have wanted the same thing if they knew what we knew.
“We are now going to spend our last precious moments with our son Charlie, who unfortunately won’t make his first birthday in just under two weeks’ time,” she added.
London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital said “the agony, desolation and bravery” of Ms Yates and Mr Gard commanded their utmost respect and humbled all who worked there.
Mr Justice Francis agreed. Noone could comprehend their agony, he said.
Nor could many understand why so much had been said, as the judge put it, “by those who know almost nothing about this case but who feel entitled to express opinions”.
As he spoke, protesters outside sobbed. One woman fell to the ground, shouting: “He had a chance and you took it away.”
We are so sorry that we couldn’t save you. Connie Yates to her baby son Charlie Gard.