Still in mourning, Charlie Gard’s mother is helping another British family as they fight to give their very ill son a chance at life.
Alfie Evans has been in a coma since December, but doctors are not sure exactly why, the Liverpool Echo reports. Tom Evans and Kate James said their 15-month-old son has an unknown brain condition, but he has shown signs of improvement at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, England. They said he was taken off a ventilator three times because his condition improved, and they had his seizures under control for a while. They said Alfie also moves and reacts when they touch him.
This week, his parents sent out a desperate plea for prayers after Alfie stopped breathing and his heart rate slowed.
They also are looking for a specialist willing to treat Alfie, and Charlie Gard’s mother has been helping them, the Daily Mail reports.
Sarah Evans, Alfie’s aunt, said Connie Yates, Charlie’s mother, has been “brilliant” in providing advice about brain specialists and fundraising for Alfie’s health care needs.
Like what happened with Charlie, Alfie’s parents said they also have been encouraged to remove his life support and allow him to die.
Click here to sign up for pro-life news alerts from LifeNews.com
“The doctors have indicated that his parents should withdraw life support and ‘allow him to die peacefully’ because that’s ‘in his best interest,’” the family said in a statement.
The family has not had to take legal action on behalf of Alfie, but many fear that his case could turn out similar to that of Charlie Gard, who died when his life support was removed in July after a long, public battle between his parents and hospital.
Alfie’s parents said they are spending every minute that they can with him.
“We spend every waking precious moment with him. We love him so much. He is our world,” Alfie’s father wrote online this week.
Evans said Alfie has a ventilator to help him breathe, but both they and the doctors have seen him breathe on his own.
“He has come off life support three times and shown he can manage a maximum of 13 days without the ventilator,” Evans continued. “We believe that there is someone out there who knows and can help us find out what is wrong with Alfie, so that we may create and follow a proper medical plan of care for him.”
More than 22,000 people have been following the infant’s journey on a Facebook page called Alfie’s Army. The family posts frequent updates, photos and requests for the infant and his parents.
“We believe that our son is a precious gift that we are blessed with and we have been given him for a reason, to get him through whatever life throws at him and us,” Evans said.
