The case of baby Charlie Gard has gripped the public across Europe and elsewhere.
Charlie was born on August 4, 2016, to the parents of Connie Yates and Chris Gard.
Afflicted from birth by a rare genetic condition known as mitochondrial depletion syndrome, Charlie has not had much of a life outside hospital environments in London.
Charlie’s condition causes progressive muscle weakness, and in Charlie’s case, he’s also suffered brain damage, now known to be irreversible.
His parents fought a valiant, but ultimately futile legal battle to have their son treated with an experimental treatment that has reportedly had some success in other cases. Much to the parent’s pain and sorrow however, the window of opportunity to treat Charlie -if there ever was one-, has now passed. The damage to his brain is too great, and cannot be undone. Charlie cannot move or breathe unassisted. His body is being kept alive by machines.
Charlie’s parents are now fighting to be given the chance to take their son home for the last time, and let him pass away there.
A judge will rule tomorrow on the place and manner of Charlie’s passing, after the hospital where the baby is currently being cared for raised concerns about transporting the terminally ill Charlie Gard home, explaining that the ventilator that keeps him alive ‘might not fit through the door.’