An anonymous donor has given more than £27,000 to a fund for a terminally ill baby from Bedfont at the centre of a life-support treatment dispute even though a High Court judge has ruled the boy should be allowed to “die with dignity”.
Mr Justice Francis decided doctors could stop providing life-support treatment for Charlie Gard on April 11 after analysing the case in a hearing at the Family Division of the High Court in London.
Money is still being donated to a fund launched by eight-month-old Charlie’s parents, Chris Gard and Connie Yates, and a website shows that an unnamed donor gave more than £27,000 on April 17.
Charlie’s parents had hoped to be allowed to take him to America for a treatment trial , but specialists at Great Ormond Street Hospital disagreed and said life-support treatment should stop.
Mr Justice Francis ruled in the hospital’s favour and concluded that Charlie, who suffers from a rare genetic condition and has brain damage, should move to a palliative care regime.
Charlie’s parents are considering their next move and hospital bosses said treatment would continue until the couple had decided whether they wanted to challenge the judge’s decision at the Court of Appeal.
They had appealed for money on GoFundMe to cover doctors’ bills in the US and reached their £1.2 million target shortly before the High Court trial.
People have continued to give money despite Mr Justice Francis’s decision and the fund has topped £1.3 million.
Mr Justice Francis heard that Charlie, who was born on August 4, had a form of mitochondrial disease, a condition which causes progressive muscle weakness and brain damage.
Charlie Gard case
Specialists in the US had offered a therapy called nucleoside but the judge said experts agreed that the treatment could not reverse Charlie’s structural brain damage.
Mr Justice Francis said Great Ormond Street doctors had considered the experimental treatment but decided it would not help Charlie.
He said the case had never been “about money”.
On Tuesday, the fight for Charlie reached the House of Commons as local MP Ruth Cadbury urged ministers to intervene.
The MP for Brentford and Isleworth called on the Justice Secretary “to do the right thing” on Tuesday (April 25).
However the politician’s plea to help save Charlie’s life fell on deaf ears as she was told the “judgement should be respected” in this case.
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