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 centre of a lengthy legal dispute after he was seriously injured in an incident at his home in Essex back in April.
He has been in a coma since then, with doctors arguing he should have his life support switched off because he was “brain stem dead”.
His parents, Paul Battersbee and Hollie Dance, fought the decision all the way through the courts, arguing Archie’s heart was still beating and he had gripped his mother’s hand.
But last week, both the Supreme Court and the High Court knocked back appeals.
On Saturday evening (WA time) Sky News reported that Ms Dance stood outside the hospital where her son had been receiving treatment, saying Archie “fought right until the very end and I am so proud to be his mum”.
“He was taken off medication at 10am, his stats remained stable until two hours later,” she said.
Speaking on behalf of the family, Ella Rose Carter said: “They removed the ventilation and he went completely blue.
“There was nothing dignified about watching a family member or child suffocate.
“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 at his home.
His mother believes he had been taking part in a social media “blackout’ challenge.
He suffered catastrophic brain damage and has never regained consciousness.
Doctors said his brain stem was dead, meaning he would not recover.
Lawyers for the NHS hospital trust had asked the High Court to rule he was effectively dead and that all treatment should be withdrawn.
But his parents fought a legal battle, insisting their child was still alive and should be given longer to show signs of recovery, or to die a ‘natural’ death.