Holly Willoughby appeared to be keeping her emotions in as she spoke to the mum of a young boy who is facing having his life support switched off. Hollie Dance is fighting to save her 12-year-old son Archie Battersbee alongside his dad, Paul.
The parents believe their son Archie may have been taking part in an online challenge when he was found unconscious at home. He is now at the centre of a life support treatment dispute which claims that parts of his brain have died. Doctors treating Archie at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London, think the youngster is “brain-stem dead”.
They say life-support treatment should end and the youngster should be disconnected from a ventilator. His parents, from Southend, Essex, say the youngster’s heart is still beating and want treatment to continue. A decision will be made in the coming days after Mrs Justice Arbuthnot finished overseeing a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London on Wednesday (June 8).
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Appearing on This Morning on Thursday (June 9), Hollie spoke to host Holly and her co-star Phillip Schofield about what happened on the day of Archie's accident. She recalled how she and her "energetic and happy" son had been sharing a joke about their pet rabbit just moments before she found him.
"He’s then left, gone a bit quiet. I’ve pottered around, come out my bedroom and called him," Hollie, who fears Archie may have been participating in the viral ‘blackout’ challenge, said.
"As I’ve looked to the right the rabbit is at the top of the stairs and then I’ve seen Archie the other side of the banister.
"First of all, I thought he was just standing there but then I realized he had something tied around his head. So, obviously I’ve run over to him and tried to get it off. I tried to get it off, but I couldn't lift him and put it over his head. I run out screaming to get help."
As she spoke about the traumatic moment, Holly and Phillip appeared lost for words, with 41-year-old Holly seen trying to keep herself composed, at one point clasping her hand to her chest, as she listened to Hollie's story. She continued to explain how a neighbour heard her calls and rushed to their aid.
CPR was performed while waiting for the ambulance but Hollie revealed that within about 10 minutes of arriving at hospital with Archie, she was told: "He probably won't survive." The youngster has not regained consciousness but his mother told Holly and Phil: "He's already making efforts to breath on his own."
"You have to have every possible hope you can," Phillip said as Hollie replied: "Definitely because I just think if I don't explore every avenue and if I don't fight for his life and then later on we realise, 'well actually we didn't look into that', I'm gonna spend the rest of my life not knowing and thinking, 'what if, what if?'
"And I'm going with my gut, a mother's gut instinct, I think you should really go with it," she added. Holly, a mum-of-three told her: "There isn't a parent on this planet who wouldn't be doing what you are doing now," to which Phil, 60, added: "It's hanging over you and it all seems so horribly brutal... the medical experts have said there's no hope here."
But Hollie replied: "That's not entirely true," before explaining: "There's a medical expert, he's got like a 37-page CV of just pure excellence and he totally disagrees with what the Royal London are saying."
The judge heard that Archie suffered brain damage in an incident at home in early April. Ms Dance told how she found him unconscious with a ligature over his head on April 7 and thinks he might have been taking part in an online challenge.
Lawyers representing Archie’s family have told the judge that his heart is still beating. They also say there was an issue as to whether “the correct procedure” had been followed, and whether the “family’s views” had been taken into account. A campaign organisation called the Christian Legal Centre is supporting Archie’s family.
