The Pope’s prayers help win more time for Charlie
CHARLIE Gard has been given a few more days of life – following supporters’ outrage and even the Pope praying for him.
The desperately ill little boy had been due to have his life support withdrawn yesterday.
But after his anguished parents begged for more time to say goodbye, Great Ormond Street Hospital agreed to give him a few days’ reprieve.
Connie Yates and Chris Gard had filmed a heartfelt video plea, which went viral on the internet, accusing the hospital of ‘rushing’ the ten-month-old’s death.
Even Pope Francis intervened, with the Vatican saying it was ‘never’ right to deliberately end a human life and adding: ‘Dear Charlie... we are praying for you.’
Last night Miss Yates said: ‘We have been in talks today with Great Ormond Street and they have agreed to give us a little bit more time with Charlie.
‘We are really grateful for all the support from the public at this extremely difficult time. We’re making precious memories that we can treasure for ever with very heavy hearts.’
The little boy is only the 16th person in the world to have a rare genetic condition called mitochondrial depletion syndrome, which saps energy from the organs. Great Ormond Street won a series of court battles against the parents, who wanted to take Charlie to America to try an experimental therapy.
But his British doctors said he had no chance and it would be kinder to let Charlie die, and were backed by the High Court, Appeal Court, Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights.
When the family ran out of legal options, the hospital promised there was ‘no rush’ to remove Charlie’s ventilator.
But on Thursday afternoon a bereft Miss Yates, 31, and Mr Gard filmed a video saying doctors were blocking their ‘final wish’.
They accused the hospital of reneging on a promise to let Charlie die at home, where his parents planned to bathe him and put him in his cot.
Mr Gard, 32, revealed that close family members would not even have time to say goodbye because the hospital had deemed yesterday his ‘date of death’.
He sobbed as he added: ‘ We know what day our son is going to die... And we don’t even get a say in what happens to him.’
Miss Gard told the video: ‘ We have literally begged them to give us this weekend.’
The message went around the world, with thousands of supporters expressing outrage at the way the family was being treated.
After Charlie was photographed recently clutching a pendant of St Jude – the patron saint of lost causes – his plight has had mass coverage in Italy, where the Vatican has been flooded with calls asking the Pope to pray for Charlie.
Yesterday papal spokesman Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia responded with a statement saying: ‘We should never act with the deliberate intention to end a human life, including the removal of nutrition and hydration so that death might be achieved.’
His statement from Vatican City ended: ‘Dear Charlie, dear parents Chris Gard and Connie Yates, we are praying for you and with you.’
In the face of terrible PR, the hospital buckled yesterday following a day of frantic meetings.
A family friend said: ‘It seems the video Connie and Chris released made the hospital reconsider.
‘To be able to prepare properly to let Charlie go has already given the parents much comfort.’
Despite giving the couple more time, the hospital is still refusing to say whether Charlie will be allowed to die at the family home in Bedfont, south-west London. Mr Gard said: ‘ We want to give him a bath at home, we want to sit on the sofa with him, sleep in the bed with him, we want to put him in a cot he’s never slept in. But we’re now being denied that.
‘He will fight to the very end, but we’re not allowed to fight for him any more. We can’t even take our own son home to die.’
Last night a Great Ormond Street spokesman said: ‘Together with Charlie’s parents we are putting plans in place for his care, and to give them more time together as a family.’
The couple have indicated the £1.3million raised for his treatment in America will be used to save other children, and a foundation could be set up in Charlie’s name.
‘We begged them for this weekend’