Stricken Archie Battersbee ’s family spoke of their glee after they were given the green-light to challenge a ruling that medics could turn off his life support.
The schoolboy, 12, has clung to life in a coma for more than 10 weeks after he was found with a ligature over his head during a social media dare.
A High Court judge last week ruled Archie stood no chance of making a full recovery and said doctors could legally withdraw life support.
But today Archie’s parents Hollie Dance, 46, and Paul Battersbee, 56, were given the go-ahead to take their fight to the Court of Appeal.
Speaking last night, Hollie revealed how she sat by her son’s hospital bed as she watched the hearing remotely.
The former fitness instructor said: “I’m so relieved that someone is giving him a chance. That’s all we ever wanted, more time to heal. I’m so emotional.
“I watched it from Archie’s bedside – I made sure he couldn’t hear or see it but I was with him through it.
“When it finished I held his hand and told him he had been given more time.
“I can’t stress this enough, if a parent doesn’t want to hold on to hope or they believe it’s not in their child’s best interest, that’s absolutely fine.
“But I won’t give up hope and it should be a parent’s decision.”
Archie was rushed to hospital after being discovered with a dressing gown cord over his head at the family home in Southend, Essex, on April 7.
She believes he was participating in an online “blackout challenge” when he accidentally starved his brain of oxygen.
Doctors treating Archie at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London, last week argued that the youngster is “brain-stem dead”.
They say treatment should end and think Archie should be disconnected from a ventilator.
Archie’s parents say his heart is still beating and want treatment to continue.
Yesterday Mrs Justice Arbuthnot said there was a “compelling reason” why appeal judges should consider the case.
A barrister leading Archie’s parents’ legal team argued that evidence had not shown “beyond reasonable doubt” that the youngster was dead.
Edward Devereux QC outlined nine grounds of appeal in total – eight of which were dismissed for having “no merit”.
But Mr Devereux said the decision had been made on a balance of probabilities that Archie was dead.
He argued a decision of such “gravity” should have been made on a “beyond reasonable doubt” basis.
Mrs Justice Arbuthnot said Court of Appeal judges had never considered that standard of proof issue in relation to “declaration of death” cases.
Archie Battersbee’s parents are being supported by a campaign organisation called the Christian Legal Centre.
Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre which is supporting Archie’s family, said: “A ruling that says death can be declared on the balance of probabilities sets a troubling precedent for our society and must be appealed.
“This case is the first of its kind in an English court and has raised significant moral, legal and medical questions as to when a person is dead.
“Archie’s parents believe that the time and manner of his death should be determined by God and claim a right to pray for a miracle until and unless that happens. That belief must be respected.
“The ideology of ‘dignity in death’, meaning a planned time of death as fixed and carried out by the doctors, should not be brutally imposed on families who do not believe in it.
“We will continue to stand with the family as they appeal the ruling and continue to pray for a miracle.”
