This is the emotional moment Archie Battersbee’s mother fought back tears as she announced her son’s death.
Hollie Dance held on to relatives for support as she emerged from Royal London Hospital in east London on Saturday afternoon to inform members of the public and media that her 12-year-old son had died.
Standing with her arms intertwined with the women either side of her, Ms Dance spoke through tears as she broke the news of his death.
“In sadness, Archie passed at 12.15pm,” she said. “I would just like to say I am the proudest mum in the world. He was such a beautiful little boy.
“He fought right until the very end, and I am so proud to be his mum.”
Taking over, Ella Rose Carter, the fiancée of Archie’s eldest brother Tom, added: “He was taken off medication at 10am, his stats remained stable until two hours later when they removed the ventilation.
“There is absolutely nothing dignified about watching a family member or a child suffocate.
“We hope no family has to go through what we have been through. It’s barbaric.”
Archie had been in a coma since he was found unconscious by his mother at their home in Southend, Essex, in April.
Ms Dance, 46, believes he was taking part in an online challenge that left him catastrophically ill.
Doctors treating Archie declared the schoolboy to be “brain-stem dead”, but his family kept his life support going in the hope he might recover.
The family’s battle to prolong Archie’s life support ended on Wednesday, when the European Court of Human Rights refused to intervene to halt the withdrawal of his treatment.
Their focus then shifted to trying to get the youngster moved to a hospice, but High Court judge Ms Justice Theis concluded on Friday that it was not in his best interests.
Ms Dance said she was driven by her “mother’s instinct” as she did “everything she could” to keep her son alive.
Speaking to the Daily Mail before Archie’s life support was switched off, she said: “I know I did everything I could. Everything.
“As his mother, I have had to explore every option. If my gut was telling me there was no chance for my son it might have been different, but I’ve educated myself, and strongest of all is a mother’s instinct that my son is in there.”
