Mom Of ‘Brain Dead’ Child Speaks After High Court Rule His Life Support Should Be Switched Off

Hollie Dance has been plunged into a nightmare, and she’s struggling to process her son Archie Battersbee,12, has not recovered consciousness after ten weeks. Doctors at The Royal London Hospital, where Archie has been on a ventilator since arriving on April 8, now want to turn off his life support, believing the talented gymnast is highly likely to be brain dead. 

Both Hollie and Archie’s dad Paul Battersbee, 56, passionately disagree with their conclusion and have taken them to court to plead for more time. 

But a judge has ruled in favor of Barts Health NHS Trust, agreeing there was an irreversible cessation of brain-stem function and permitted medics to cease life support. It’s impossible not to feel sad for the family, especially for Hollie, who had been determined as a mother to fight for any glimmer of hope for her son. “I was told my son would not last the night when he arrived in hospital. Yet here he is ten weeks later.”

“He’s a fighter and is fighting the battle of his life – how can I not fight every bit as hard? All we have ever asked for is time,” Hollie said in an interview since the tragedy. 

She added: “People are in comas for months, but the hospital wanted to pronounce my son dead after just three days when he was still under sedation. Archie should be treated as a living patient until it can be proven that he’s not – and the MRI scan they have relied on is not proof. What I know is that a boy who can squeeze my hand is not brain dead. I defy any mother not to do the same if they were in my situation.” 

Hollie smiled as she summoned a memory that captured the playful nature of her son, Archie. She told of how he had come into her bedroom offering her a bag of sweets. 

She also told of how Archie loves jokes and recalled telling him she knew he had his pet rabbit, Simeon, in the bag of sweets. “Then, with perfect comic timing, Simeon popped his head out right at that moment. We were both in fits of giggles,” Hollie shared. Notably, just a few minutes after this exchange, the 46-Year-Old emerged from her bedroom to find Archie, who had a dressing gown cord wrapped around his neck, unconscious. 

Hollie has barely left Archie’s bedside. She has been sleeping on the sofa in his hospital room and surfing the internet for information that might be helpful.

“I’ve turned into Nurse Dance. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve shed plenty of tears. But I’ve had to detach myself emotionally to fight for Archie. It’s the only way I can cope. Otherwise, I will let him down, and I cannot do that.” Hollie’s two older children, Tom, 22, and Lauren, 20, from her first marriage, are also devoted to their younger brother. Accordingly, Tom’s GF Ella Carter, 20, a law student, has taken it upon herself to scrutinize every legal detail of the case. 

The cause of Archie’s accident is yet to be officially determined, but Hollie believes he tried out a social media craze called blackout, in which participants choke themselves until they pass out due to lack of oxygen.

However, a GoFundMe has been launched for Archie, a product of Hollie’s ten-year marriage to her second husband, Paul. While the couple split up when Archie was 6, they have been supporting each other through their current trauma. Accordingly, Hollie is continuing to fight, lodging to stay that stops the judge’s order from being into effect pending an appeal to overturn the ruling. Permission to appeal hearing will take place Monday.