Charlie Gard’s parents appeared before media today to give a brief yet powerful statement. The heartbroken pair fight back tears as they praise their little boy as a fighter and express their sorrow that they weren’t able to save him.
Watch the statement below:
“We are so sorry we couldn't save you….Sleep tight our beautiful little boy,” Charlie Gard’s father says tearfully to end press conference pic.twitter.com/JWshAsLJS9
— CBS News (@CBSNews) July 24, 2017
Here is the statement in full:
“Charlie has been left with his illness to deteriorate, devastatingly, to the point of no return. This has also never been about parents know best. What we wanted to do, was take Charlie from one world renowned hospital to another world renowned hospital, in the attempt to save his life and be treated in the world leader in mitochondrial disease. We will have to live with the what ifs, which will haunt us for the rest of our lives. Despite the way our beautiful son has been spoken about sometimes, as if he is not worthy at a chance at life, our son is an absolute warrior and we could not be prouder of him and we will miss him terribly. His body, heart and soul will soon be gone, but his spirit will live on for eternity and he will make a difference in people’s lives for years to come, we will make sure of that. We are now going to spend our last precious moment with our son Charlie, who unfortunately won’t make his first birthday in just under two weeks time. And we ask that our privacy is respected at this difficult time. To Charlie, we say mummy and daddy, we love you so much. We always have and we always will, and we are so sorry that we couldn’t save you. Sweet dreams, baby, sleep tight our beautiful little boy. We love you.”
Tragic. No parent should ever have to go through something like this, and it’s especially difficult knowing these parents will have to deal with those what ifs because they not only had to fight for their son’s life, they also had to fight a bureaucratic mess of red tape, lawyers, and government just for the chance at survival.
Charlie’s parents decided to end the legal challenge after learning some devastating news over the weekend.
They said “time had run out” for little Charlie, when the doctor interested in attempting experimental treatment saw the results of the latest MRI scan and said he is refusing to do the treatment.
A lawyer representing the family said “the parents worst nightmare had been confirmed” and that American neurologist Dr. Michia Hirano said it was now “too late” to give him the nucleoside therapy that could’ve given him a small chance at survival.
From The Guardian:
Grant Armstrong, representing Charlie’s parents, told the high court in London: “For Charlie, it’s too late, time has run out, irreversible muscular damage has been done and the treatment can no longer be a success.
”He said the parents had made the most painful of decisions, that only parents can make.”
Armstrong said: “Charlie has waited patiently for treatment. Due to delay, that window of opportunity has been lost.”
The couple felt that continuing their fight would cause Charlie pain, he said. The case was “worthy of a Greek tragedy”.
Armstrong said Charlie’s parents hoped to set up a foundation and they wanted lessons to be learned from the case. “Dark days lie ahead for these parents,” he said. “The parents wish to treasure their remaining time with Charlie, however short that may be.”
The family has been in court fighting the hospital to explore other options to save their son, but the hospital preferred to just let the baby die. It is unclear as to whether or not Dr. Hirano would’ve been able to apply the treatment if he’d been able to get to Charlie sooner.
Charlie’s parents are looking to set up a foundation so Charlie’s voice “continues to be heard” and that others going through something similar in the future hopefully won’t have to go through the same thing.
Faithwire has been following this story for well over a month, first picking up the story back in the middle of June. Their fight seemed almost unimaginable, that parents would have to fight a hospital and the court simply to make a medical decision for their own child.
Tragic news all around. Prayers for this family as they’ve had to deal with an unthinkable tragedy with the added mess of a media circus and legal drama.