Aylesbury charity vows to support family appeal for child on life support after High Court rules he is dead

The De Lick Foundation in Aylesbury is among the many parties to have been gripped by Archie battersbee’s case.

Now, the charity is dedicating its next fundraising event to the family who are launching an appeal against the judge’s decision.

This morning (13 June) Mrs Justice Arbuthnot ruled in favour of Barts Health NHS Trust whose doctors argued Archie was "brain-stem dead".

The family of the boy from Essex, argue Archie is still alive and point to moments when he clinched his mother and aunties’ fingers during visits.

On 9 July, the De Lick Foundation is hosting its next fundraiser all the proceeds will go towards providing financial support to the family.

Over the next four weeks participating children will be raising funds for the cause.

Then they will take part in a lap running event held at the charity’s gym in Aylesbury.

Families can find out more about potentially joining the event on a Facebook page linked to the charity here.

Speaking to The Bucks Herald last week, De Lick Foundation co-founder, Ollie Bessell said: “This is our fourth [fundraiser] we’ve raised thousands of pounds last year for individual children.

"With this child, co-founder of the charity, Nathan Graham, has actually been in contact with the mother of the child on social media for quite a while now.

"It was Nathan’s idea to make this child the focus of our project.

"Usually, we would pick a child who is local, others have been in Aylesbury or Buckinghamshire until now.

"This one struck a chord with us.

"This kid is alive. I’ve got a video I put up on my social media a few days ago where he is holding his mum’s hand.”

Archie’s mum, Hollie Dance believes Archie suffered his life-altering injury while attempting an online prank.

Archie has been in a coma since 7 April when he was discovered unconscious at his home.

In a written ruling, the judge said: "I find that Archie died at noon on 31 May 2022, which was shortly after the MRI scans taken that day.

"I find that irreversible cessation of brain stem function has been conclusively established.”