The family of 12-year-old Archie Battersbee are preparing to lay him to rest today after a life-support treatment battle this summer.
On April 7, the young boy was found unconscious at his home in Essex with a ligature over his head after potentially taking part in an online challenge.
Sadly after months of hope, he never regained consciousness, and in August a judge based in the Family Division of the High Court in London ruled in July that doctors could lawfully stop providing life-support treatment to the youngster.
READ MORE: Tragic schoolboy Archie Battersbee dies after life support switched off following court battle
Doctors stopped treatment in early August after Archie’s mother, Hollie Dance, and father, Paul Battersbee, failed in their numerous bids to overturn Mr Justice Hayden’s ruling.
Archie’s funeral is due to take place at St Mary’s Church in Prittlewell, Southend, at 12pm on Tuesday, September 13.
His family have been supported by a campaign group called the Christian Legal Centre and a spokesman for the centre has said Reverend Paul Mackay will conduct the service featuring music and poetry.
During recent hearings, Judges were told Ms Dance found Archie unconscious with a ligature over his head on April 7 and said she believed he may have been taking part in an online challenge.
Doctors treating Archie at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London, came to the conclusion that he was brain-stem dead and said continued life-support treatment was not in his best interests.
Bosses at Barts Health NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, asked a High Court judge to make decisions on what medical moves were in Archie’s best interests.
Mrs Justice Arbuthnot initially considered the case and concluded that Archie was dead, but Court of Appeal judges upheld a challenge - by Archie’s parents - against Mrs Justice Arbuthnot’s ruling and said evidence should be reviewed by a different High Court judge.
Mr Justice Hayden then ruled, after a further hearing, that ending treatment would be in Archie’s best interests.
Ms Dance is preparing to discuss the implications of Archie's case with a health minister after she wrote to Steve Barclay - who was health secretary when Archie died - asking if she and her MP Anna Firth could meet for talks.
Mr Barclay, who is no longer health secretary, replied to say a minister would discuss Archie’s case but the Christian Legal Centre spokesman said no date had yet been fixed for a meeting.
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