Archie Battersbee’s mum says she’ll give him ‘mouth-to-mouth’ if taken off life-support

The mum of UK boy Archie Battersbee has said she’ll “continue to give him oxygen” via mouth-to-mouth if doctors switch off his life-support machine.

Archie Battersbee’s mum may give her son mouth-to-mouth when he’s taken off life support.

Desperate Hollie Dance has vowed to “continue to give him oxygen”, The Sun reports, if doctors switch off the 12-year-old’s machine and is “prepared to do anything” to keep him alive.

A spokesman for the campaign organisation for the Christian Legal Centre – who are supporting the family – told The Sun giving her son mouth-to-mouth "may be what Hollie has to resort to”.

He referred to the “traumatic” case of little Alfie Evans, whose parents launched a similar legal battle to Archie’s when doctors wanted to turn off his machines.

Alfie’s dad Tom gave the boy mouth-to-mouth to keep the dying toddler alive in his devastating final moments.

It comes after the European Court of Human Rights last night rejected Hollie and her husband Paul’s last-ditch appeal to keep Archie’s life support switched on – leaving Hollie “absolutely deflated”.

Hollie Dance, Archie Battersbee’s mum, spoke to the media outside the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, East London. Picture: James Manning/PA Wire

The desperate mum has been locked in a battle with the UK courts to keep her son on life-support. Picture: James Manning/PA Wire

Now, the family has made an application to the High Court to move Archie from Royal London Hospital to a hospice for his final hours.

Hollie said denying their request to move Archie would “simply be inhumane”.

The court hearing will take place at 3.30pm today.

“If Archie is denied oxygen if and when life-support is removed I will continue to give him oxygen,” Hollie said in a statement.

“I pray the High Court will do the right thing. If they refuse permission for us to take him to a hospice and for him to receive palliative oxygen it will simply be inhumane and nothing about Archie’s ‘dignity’.

“The whole system has been stacked against us.

“Reform must now come through Charlie’s Law so that no parents have to go through this.

“We will fight to the end for Archie’s right to live.”

The family’s lawyers had until 9am to make their High Court appeal in order to transfer their young son out of the Royal London Hospital.

Heartbroken Hollie confirmed the family’s intentions to keep battling the courts’ decisions, describing it as “completely barbaric and absolutely disgusting that we’re not even allowed to choose where Archie takes his last moments”.

The 12-year-old is in a “deep coma’ in hospital following a freak accident. Picture: Hollie Dance/PA Wire

“We will fight until the bitter end,” she previously vowed.

“We’re going to fight for the right for my son to live.”

Archie was found with a ligature over his head after a social media dare at home in Southend, Essex, on April 7 this year.

The youngster suffered brain damage in the “freak accident” and has been unresponsive ever since.

He is being kept alive by a combination of medical interventions, including ventilation and drug treatments, at the hospital in Whitechapel, East London.

Barts Health NHS Trust believe Archie’s condition is too unstable for him to be transferred elsewhere.

Doctors claim an ambulance journey “would most likely hasten the premature deterioration the family wish to avoid, even with full intensive care equipment and staff”.

A High Court order made in July also requires that Archie remains at the Royal London Hospital while his treatment is withdrawn.

Last night the family’s spokeswoman said a hospice has agreed to take him, adding that “hospices are well and truly designed for palliative and respite care”.

“Archie is now obviously on palliative care so there is no reason whatsoever for him not to take his last moments at a hospice,” she added.

Hollie said she wanted her son to have a “dignified passing at a hospice”, adding that it is “unfair” they have to “fight” to get him out of the hospital.

Archie and Hollie before the accident. Picture: Hollie Dance/PA Wire

Archie’s brother Tom Summers kisses him on the head. Picture: Hollie Dance/PA Wire.

She responded to the ECHR’s rejection yesterday evening with tears in her eyes, saying: “The one thing I will say is I promised I’d fight to the end and that’s exactly what I’ve done.”

“Doctors do get it wrong,” Hollie said, speaking outside the Royal London Hospital after the verdict.

“I’m saying they’ve got it wrong in this case. They said Archie would last 24 hours – here is still fighting.”

Archie’s family have been fighting court decisions in a bid to delay the withdrawal of their boy’s life support.

Before the ECHR block, the family went through the Supreme Court where judges had also agreed it would be unlawful to maintain the 12-year-old’s life-sustaining treatment.

They said continuing life support would only “protract” his death as there is “no prospect of any meaningful recovery” for the brain-damaged boy.

Yet Hollie has been adamant her son has a chance of survival.

“I know Archie’s still with us,” she said previously.

“He’s showing very different signs to what the clinicians are actually putting over to the courts.

“He’s very much there, he’s progressing in so many ways.

“Archie held my hand. He squeezed my fingers so tight they were red. All he needs is time.

“He hasn’t been given long enough. We just want time.”

This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission