‘We will fight this to the end’: Archie Battersbee’s mother says ‘this is his last chance’ as life support switch-off imminent

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

The mother of Archie Battersbee has vowed to “fight until the end” as doctors prepare to turn off the brain-damaged boy’s life support.

Hollie Dance said this was the promise she had made to her son, who has not regained consciousness since suffering an injury at home in April.

Archie, 12, has been at the centre of a four-month legal battle over his care. Doctors at Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel say he is brain-stem dead and further treatment would be futile, but his family want life support to continue.

The High Court ruled it was in Archie’s best interests for treatment to stop, and the Court of Appeal said life support could be withdrawn from 12pm on Tuesday.

The NHS trust treating Archie said doctors were making preparations to take him off life support but would not act while the family were making an application to the Supreme Court.

Ms Dance told Good Morning Britain on Tuesday: “I’m pretty sure this is our last chance now.”

She added: “Me and Archie’s dad have made a promise to Archie we will fight this until the end. And that is exactly what we intend to do.”

The mother also said she believes her son is “still with us” and “progressing in so many ways”.

Archie suffered a brain injury during an incident at his home in Southend, Essex, in April. His mother believes it may have been linked to an online challenge.

His family appealed to the United Nations after the High Court ruled it was in Archie’s best interests to turn off life support and all routes of appeal had been exhausted.

The UN asked last week for Archie to remain on life support while it considered the case, but this request was rejected by the UK’s Court of Appeal on Monday.

A judge said doctors, who had originally planned to taking Archie of life-sustaining treatment on Monday afternoon, could proceed from midday the following day.

This short delay would allow Archie’s parents to make any further application to the Supreme Court - which they vowed to do in an attempt to prevent his treatment from stopping on Tuesday.