Sunday, July 9, 2017

Father of Boy with Similar Condition to Charlie Gard: If We Lived in the UK He’d ‘Be Dead by Now’


By Nancy Flanders
Live Action News


The father of a boy with a similar condition to Charlie Gard appeared on Good Morning America on July 4, 2017, praising President Trump for offering to help Charlie. On July 3, 2017, President Trump tweeted: “If we can help little #CharlieGard, as per our friends in the U.K. and the Pope, we would be delighted to do so.”

“President Trump has saved him. He was set to die yesterday morning,” said Art Estopinan, whose son Arturito has TK2 mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome, similar to Charlie who has RRM2B mitochondrial depletion syndrome. “My son has been on a ventilator for five years. He’s getting stronger. When he got home four years ago he couldn’t move anything, only his eyes. Now he can move his hands, feet and fingers, he’s a happy boy.”



Art, Jr. playing with his classmates in the Park!!
First time ever along with his beloved ANA and Ms Lauren his OT.
He was really Happy!!! — with Olga M. Fleites Estopinan.

Dr. Hilary Jones also appeared on the same segment of Good Morning America and implied that some lives, like Charlie’s, are not worthy of living.

“You can keep somebody alive on an artificial respirator,” he said. “You can give them an IV drip full-time, 24 hour nursing around the clock. You can give them a gastric tube, but what kind of a life is that you’re giving your son or daughter?”

“What this gentleman is saying is absolutely 100% false,” Estopinan responded. “[…] Sir, you are totally 100% wrong. […] Charlie Gard is a human being and he deserves the opportunity to live.”

Arthur Estopinan about 8 months ago

When Chris Gard and Connie Yates first began fighting for their son Charlie’s life, Estopinan and his wife Olga put them in touch with a doctor who had helped their son, who was the first to receive the experimental treatment called nucleoside therapy in the United States. 

Though the Gard family is in the UK and the doctor is in the United States, Charlie’s parents decided to do everything they could to get their son to the US, even raising over 1.3 million pounds. But now, at the end of their legal battle, the courts have decided to allow the hospital to choose what’s best for Charlie, which, in their opinion, is to turn off his life support.


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