What Will Happen To Charlie Gard After Parents End Legal Battle?

After a tense, months long fight, the parents of terminally ill baby Charlie Gard announced Monday they were ending their legal battle to take him to the United States for experimental treatment. Connie Yates and Chris Gard said all they want now is to take their child home so his life can end peacefully.

Charlie’s parents had to return to court Tuesday to ask for him to be allowed to die at home. Both parents fought bitterly after a court ruling said the Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, where Charlie was being treated, should be allowed to remove his life support and didn’t have to release him to get experimental treatment in the U.S.

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But Charlie’s parents said Monday the treatment was no longer a viable option due to the muscle atrophy Charlie had suffered in recent months. The High Court in London was now set to decide exactly how the baby would die.

“We are about to do the hardest thing we will ever have to do, which is to let our beautiful little Charlie go,” Chris Gard said Monday.

Eleven-month-old Charlie was born with mitochondrial depletion syndrome, a rare genetic disease that left him unable to eat, move or breathe on his own. After exhausting treatment options in London, a judge ruled that taking Charlie to the U.S. for an untested experimental treatment would do more harm than good. Charlie’s parents fought back, arguing they should be allowed to pursue any and all options that might save their son.

“Understandably, the parents wish to spend the maximum amount of time they have left with Charlie from now own,” their lawyer, Grant Armstrong, said Monday.

Read: President Trump Offers To Help Terminally Ill Baby Charlie Gard

It remained unclear exactly when Charlie’s life support would be removed. After Tuesday’s hearing, the High Court would decide whether Charlie would be sent home with his parents.

“We are now going to spend our last precious moments with our son Charlie, who unfortunately won’t make his first birthday in just two weeks’ time,” Charlie’s parents said outside court Monday. “Mummy and Daddy love you so much Charlie, we always have and we always will and we are so sorry that we couldn’t save you.”