Aylesbury charity launches fundraiser for boy on life support whose family are battling for his life in court

Archie Battersbee, 12, from Southend has been on life support since 7 April when he was discovered unconscious at his home.

His parents believe he injured himself in an online prank gone wrong.

Doctors at the Royal Hospital have declared that Archie’s life should end due to the lack of activity discovered in the 12-year-old’s brain.

His family have countered saying the boy is showing signs of life squeezing his mother, Hollie Dance, and her sisters’ fingers.

At the time of writing 40,000 people have signed a petition in support of the family to ‘Let Archie Live’.

The High court hearing between Barts NHS Trust and Archie’s family began on Monday (6 June).

Among the people gripped by this case and sympathetic to the trauma Archie’s family are enduring are the founders of Aylesbury-based charity, De Lick Kids Foundation.

Charity representatives have organised a foundation fundraiser for this Saturday (11 June).

Participating children will striding through a lap running event in Aylesbury.

Families can contact the De Lick Academy on Facebook to find out more.

Money raised will go towards supporting the family with legal fees, the charity says.

Co-founder Ollie Bessell told The Bucks Herald: “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.”

Yesterday (7 June), a medical specialist who cannot be named due to court reporting restrictions, told the High Court: "We believe that it is very likely that he is brain-stem dead.”

A Barts Health NHS Trust spokesperson told The Bucks Herald: “This is an incredibly sad case and our thoughts and sympathies are with Archie's family at this time. We await the decision on the case to be decided by the courts.”

Since its launch a few years ago, the De Lick Academy has put on multiple fundraisers to help children in need.

Four times a year children are signed up to four to five week programmes at the charity’s gym, to learn the core disciplines of boxing: fitness, discipline, building morale and confidence.

At this stage the charity hasn’t made a decision on where money raised from Saturday’s event will go to if Archie’s family lose their court battle.

A decision will be made based around whether the decision is appealed and how quickly the hospital acts to turn Archie’s life support machines off.