New Hope for ‘Prisoner of the State’ Baby Charlie Gard

The parents of Charlie Gard are weathering the storm over his fate, although there is a recent glimmer of hope from a London court hearing the case.

The 11-month-old boy suffers from a rare genetic disorder, and the hospital where he is on life support wants to remove his ventilator resulting in death.

The parents have fought a lengthy legal battle to allow a specialist to provide an experimental treatment that would give the boy at least a 10-percent chance for improvement.

OneNewsNow spoke with Bobby Schindler of the Terri Schiavo Life and Hope Network. The pro-life activist was in London, England, where the court ruled that Dr. Michio Harano, of Columbia University, can examine Gard next week. However, this recent development does not guarantee that Harano will be allowed to treat the toddler.

“I think it’s very encouraging that the judge is going to allow this physician to come over to the U.K. and examine Charlie, and hopefully – after the examination – I’m sure they’ll have a hearing and present to the judge the result of his examination,” Schindler expressed to OneNewsNow.

Schindler pointed out that the case has caught international attention and many people are asking a very serious question.

“It just doesn’t make sense to anyone why they weren’t given this opportunity to help their child,” he continued.

The parents have raised sufficient funds to continue their son’s treatment.

Schindler met with the parents at the London hospital and was at their composure through the whole ordeal.

“They were just a very sincere, very humble couple, and determined to fight for their child,” Schindler commented on his visit with the two. “But you can tell, you had a sense that it was just taking a toll on them emotionally – the day-to-day torture of not knowing whether or not their son was going to live or die.”

The pressure was so great earlier this week that the couple walked out of the courtroom after arguing with High Court Judge Nicholas Francis.

In the most recent development on Saturday, Charlie Gard’s family spokesman slammed British authorities for blocking the toddler from traveling to the United States to receive potentially life-saving treatment.

While speaking with a local newspaper, family representative Alasdair Seton-Marsden argued that the 11-month-old would have been permitted to travel to America for pioneering treatment if his parents were wealthy.

“Baby Charlie wouldn’t have become what is essentially – and these are my words – a prisoner of the state,” to Seton-Marsden insisted when speaking with Sky News on Saturday. “The child is effectively being taken prisoner by the NHS and by the state.”