Will the court battles still be continuing on his first birthday?

HE IS not even a year old. While other 11-month-old babies are starting to stand on their own two feet and explore the world around them, Charlie Gard can’t even breathe unaided.

He is blind and deaf. Sometimes epileptic fits send his tiny body into spasms, on rare occasions his parents Connie Yates and Chris Gard have wheeled him from his hospital room to a garden space so he could at least feel the cool breeze on his cheeks. He might like it, but because he can’t communicate, no one can really tell. Unable to eat – he’s fed by a tube – he spends every moment of his young life hooked to a life support machine.

Whether or not it should be switched off – allowing him, some say, a dignified and peaceful end – has propelled Charlie and his parents into the global spotlight. Last week US President Donald Trump tweeted support for the family and pledged to raise the matter during talks with Theresa May at the G20 Summit in Germany. Pope Francis, meanwhile, has called for the couple to be allowed to “accompany and treat their child until the end”, offering to care for Charlie at the Vatican’s paediatric hospital.

Around the world fundraisers calling themselves “Charlie’s Army” have backed his parents. They have raised £1,327,000 to help with his treatment, with donations flowing in by the hour.

Of course none of this was what Charlie’s parents imagined 11 months ago, when their apparently perfectly healthy son was born. For two weeks they revelled in newborn happiness. By the third, they were in hospital. Charlie would not return home.

Doctors discovered he has mitochondrial depletion syndrome mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome, a devastating genetic condition that means not enough energy is reaching his muscles, kidneys and brain. MDS is typically fatal in infancy and early childhood.

His parents, both carriers of the genetic blip, have refused to give up their fight for their son’s life. Described by one doctor as a “spanner in the works” after it emerged they were doing their own research in a bid to save his life, they have taken their battle to the highest courts.

One hope is experimental therapy called nucleoside could help reverse some of Charlie’s symptoms. While the couple pinned their hopes on what some have argued would simply “prolong the process of dying”, doctors treating Charlie were in agreement – the time had come to remove artificial life support, giving Charlie just palliative care until he could pass away peacefully.

Court case after court case has followed. A High Court judge ruled in April in favour of Charlie’s doctors. The decision was backed by three Court of Appeal judges and Supreme Court justices. The couple’s “last ditch” appeal to the European Court of Human Rights was also rejected.

Now, as the world’s gaze falls on the plight of a baby lying desperately ill in a London hospital, his parents have vowed to fight on. The High Court will today hear fresh arguments following claims of “new information” from researchers at the Vatican’s children’s hospital.

Next month, Charlie will be one year old. The question is: will the battle to save his life still be going on?