A 12-year-old UK boy who captured the hearts and minds of people around the world when he suffered devastating brain damage has died after his life support was finally switched off.
Archi Battersbee was at the center of a lengthy legal dispute after he was seriously injured in an incident at his home in Essex in April.
He has been in a coma ever since, with doctors arguing that he should be taken off life support because he was ‘brain dead’.
His parents, Paul Battersbee and Hollie Dance, fought the decision all the way to court, arguing that Archie’s heart was still beating and that he had held his mother’s hand.
But last week, both the Supreme Court and the High Court overturned the appeals.
On Saturday evening (Washington time) Sky News reported that Mrs Dance was outside the hospital where her son had been receiving treatment, saying that Archie “fought to the end and I am so proud to be his mother “.
“He was taken off the medication at 10am, his stats remained stable until two hours later,” he said.
Speaking on behalf of the family, Ella Rose Carter said: “They took the vent off and it turned completely blue.
Camera icon Archie Battersbee’s mother Hollie Dance, center, speaks to the media outside the Royal Courts of Justice, London, on July 25, 2022. Credit: Dominic Lipinski/AP
“There was nothing dignified in watching a family member or child drown.
“We hope no family has to go through what we went through. It’s barbaric.”
Archie, an aspiring Olympic gymnast, was fit and healthy until he was found unconscious in his home.
His mother believes he had taken part in a ‘off’ social media challenge.
He suffered catastrophic brain damage and has never regained consciousness.
Doctors said his brain stem was dead, meaning he wouldn’t recover.
Lawyers for the NHS hospital trust had asked the High Court to declare that he was effectively dead and that all treatment should be withdrawn.
But his parents fought a legal battle, insisting their son was still alive and should be given more time to show signs of recovery or to die a “natural” death.