The sweet message Archie Battersbee’s mum told brain-damaged boy, 12, after being told life support must be turned off
THE mum of a schoolboy left brain-damaged after a dangerous social media dare has told him she won’t give up fighting to save his life.
Just hours after a judge ruled doctors can turn 12-year-old Archie Battersbee‘s life-support off as he is medically dead, Hollie Dance sat by his hospital bed to break the devastating news.
Recounting the heartbreaking moment to , Hollie said she whispered to her son: “Archie, we’ve lost this fight, but we won’t give up, we’ll keep fighting.”
The 46-year-old then held a bedside vigil at the hospital, where she held his hand and stroked his hair.
Hollie added: “He’s a 12-year-old boy who’s been given a death sentence.
“I’m not going to give up, this is just the start of the fight.”
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It followed a High Court battle during which experts declared the youngster brain-stem dead, with no chance of making a full recovery.
Mrs Justice Arbuthnot yesterday said doctors can now begin to withdraw life support.
But Hollie, and Archie’s dad Paul, 56, both insist Archie’s heart is still beating.
And they have begged for him to be given more time.
Speaking on the court steps after the judgment, Hollie said: “His heart is still beating, he has gripped my hand.
“As his mother and by my mother’s instinct, I know my son is still there.”
Archie suffered brain damage after a “freak accident” while playing a game he saw online.
His mum found him with a ligature around his neck at the family home in Southend, Essex, on April 7 this year.
He was left in a coma and hasn’t woken since.
Archie remains at the Royal London Hospital where his family rarely leave his bedside.
Hollie said: “I am devastated and extremely disappointed by the judge’s ruling after weeks of fighting a legal battle when I wanted to be at my little boy’s bedside.”
As his mother and by my mother’s instinct, I know my son is still there.
Mum Hollie Dance
The court heard Archie is “likely” to be dead based off an MRI scan – the first time a decision has been reached using that method, Hollie claimed.
A specialist said tests had shown no “discernible” brain activity and “significant areas of tissue necrosis” – meaning parts of the brain have died.
But Hollie refuses to accept that this means her son is “brain-stem dead”.
“The medical opinion presented in court was clear, in that the whole concept of ‘brain death’ is now discredited,” she said.
“In any event, Archie cannot be reliably diagnosed as brain dead.
“I feel sickened that the hospital and judge have failed to take the wishes of his family into consideration.
“I don’t believe Archie has been given enough time.
“From the beginning I have always thought, ‘What’s the rush?'”
She said the case raises “significant moral, legal and medical questions” surrounding the legal definition of death – and that she plans to appeal.
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“I know of miracles when people have come back from being brain dead,” Hollie told reporters.
“We do intend on appealing. This is only the start. I will not give up my fight for my son.”
