Tuesday, April 24, 2018
“Alfie has been sustaining his own life since 9:17…” —Tom Evans, 21, father of 23-month-old Alfie Evans, yesterday evening in Liverpool, England, after British doctors removed Alfie from his breathing tube at 9:17 p.m. — 12 hours ago as of this writing…
The removal was decided after British authorities were informed by Italian government authorities that Alfie had unexpectedly been granted Italian citizenship.
A UK judge ruled during a conference call earlier in the evening that this fact would not change a previous court decision that the hospital could remove the baby’s life support in the conviction that it was in Alfie’s “best interest.”
The call happened between the family’s legal team, Justice Hayden, the Italian ambassador to England, and hospital administration.
Reportedly, everyone involved — the hospital authorities, the legal authorities, and even the child’s parents — expected that, without the breathing tube, Alfie would stop breathing on his own within minutes, and so would die.
But Alfie did not stop breathing…
Doctors have been left “gobsmacked” (astonished) by the fact that Alfie continued to live after his life-support was withdrawn, Tom Evans said.
Here is a photo of Alfie this morning in his mother’s arms…
“6 hours of breathing on his own so far, what a fighter! I’m sure this is much longer than his executioners thought possible… His parents must be so proud. Please Lord, help him through this night.” —Comment by a reader in the comment section of a Lifesitenews.com article during the night, about six hours ago as of this writing
“The Court based their decision [to cease all treatment]at least in part on the fact that he was incapable of breathing without sophisticated medical intervention. That fact has now been proven wrong…” —Comment by a reader in the comment section of a Lifesitenews.com article during the night
Alfie Still Alive… Though His Breathing Tube Has Been Removed
Little Alfie Evans is still alive as of this writing, more than 12 hours after being removed from a breathing tube last night at 9:17 p.m., London time.
However, he could cease breathing at any time.
There is no explanation that has been offered for why he has been able to breathe on his own for so many hours.
During the night, baby’s parents asked if Alfie could have oxygen, to help his breathing, but the hospital refused to administer any oxygen.
After several hours, seeing that Alfie was breathing on his own, Alfie’s father, Tom Evans, 21, asked hospital authorities to re-attach a hydration tube so that Alfie could receive water.
The hospital agreed.
The hydration tube was re-attached.
After another period of time, the hospital also agreed also to administer oxygen to the child.
So Alfie is now on a hydration tube, and is receiving oxygen, but he is breathing on his own.
“Alfie is sustaining his own life,” his father said, repeatedly, on a Facebook video posted last night.
A video of his father saying this can be seen at the lifesitenews.com website.
The Vatican’s Role
Alfie’s respiration tube had been scheduled to be removed at 2 p.m. Monday afternoon, though it was fully anticipated by doctors that this would lead to his death due to asphyxiation within minutes.
It was thought that Alfie’s story would then end.
But, in a startling development yesterday, Alfie was granted Italian citizenship by the Italian government — evidently with input from Pope Francis and other Vatican authorities, who had also weighed the option of granting Alfie Vatican citizenship.
Andrea Tornielli, reporting this morning on the Vatican Insider website, writes (link):
“Even in the Vatican, in the last hours, the possibility of giving Alfie and his family the passport of Oltretevere residents [of residents “on the other side of the Tiber,” that is, of Vatican City, which is located on the other side of the Tiber from the old center of Rome] was taken into consideration.
“The problem, however, is represented by the fact that the new citizenship — the Vatican one as well as the Italian one — would have been added to the British one, and therefore Alfie would have remained subject to the English laws.
“Moreover, the Vatican is not a member of the European Union and therefore the citizenship of Oltretevere would not have been decisive. Only the renunciation by the parents of British citizenship would have questioned the jurisdiction of the English judiciary.
“Yesterday at dawn, as a sign of solidarity and closeness, in the name of Pope Francis, the president of the [Rome] pediatric hospital Bambino Gesù [Child Jesus] and an anesthetist boarded a plane and after a stopover in Germany arrived at Alder Hey hospital in Liverpool.
“They were not allowed to enter the child’s room or talk to the doctors.
“As you will already remember, last September [2017], without media clamor, a medical team of the Bambino Gesù had flown to Liverpool to visit Alfie.
“The conclusion was that there were no hopes of healing or possible treatment, but the Vatican pediatric hospital would have gladly welcomed the child by taking on the risky transfer to Italy where Alfie would be assisted with palliative care.
“‘Bring Alfie here!‘ Pope Francis had said at the end of the meeting with the child’s father, a private audience obtained by Thomas Evans on the morning of Wednesday, April 18, a few hours after he had requested it.
“The Pope has launched four public appeals for Alfie, the most important during the Regina Coeli [Sunday noon public prayer from the window of the Apostolic Palace] on 15 April, and at the end of Wednesday’s general audience which took place three days later [April 18].
“Last night [April 23 in the evening], Francis dedicated a tweet to his appeal: “Touched by the prayers and the vast solidarity in favor of little Alfie Evans, I renew my appeal to listen to the suffering of his parents and to be granted their desire to try new possibilities for treatment.”
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