Parental Opinions Matter

When parental opinions are undermined as in Charlie Gard’s case in United Kingdom, who then has the rights? When the States undermine parental opinions arguing that the rights of the child come before his caregivers’ opinions and win, what’s next?

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Too Late For Charlie?

This morning I woke up with a heavy heart after receiving a devastating news update on Charlie Gard’s latest development. It is a piece of news no parents look forward to. Both Chris Gard and Connie Yates declared their decision to end their legal battle to save Charlie’s life. This decision came after Dr. Michio Hirano took a look at the scan submitted to the court by the Hospital today. The prognosis did not look good.

According to the report that came out this morning, “Charlie has experienced significant muscular atrophy, for instance, as a result of his condition. While the treatment could potentially improve his condition – though doctors have said the chances are low – it would not be able to reverse those effects and so it is too late to pursue that route, the family has agreed.” 

After 5 months of Charlie’s parents fighting to save their son, it is too late.

Charlie’s Parents Prepare For His Verdict – Too Late

As Chris and Connie make peace to accept the news that they did everything they could to give Charlie a chance to live, no matter how long or short it might seem, to prepare for Charlie’s last remaining days left with them. This is a devastating day not only for them but also for any parents who believe that life is worth saving. No matter how short that little life is or in some circumstances, is allowed to live.

What does ‘die with dignity’ mean to Charlie? 

Does the term ‘die with dignity’ mean anything to Charlie? Or is ‘die with dignity’ a comforting thought for us as adults because Charlie is a hopeless case? Charlie’s primary doctors could not reach a final decision that Charlie is in pain. How can we say that by removing Charlie’s life support we are letting him ‘die with dignity’? Why do we have to fight this hard to save a life before it is too late?

Is ending a life easier than saving one these day? Who truly win today?

Did the law of Britain win today? 

Judge Fransis will make his decision on Charlie tomorrow and we know what is going to happen to him. For those who believe that the law rules over parental rights, you may feel you are right on today. It is time to celebrate indeed.  Those who think Charlie got 5 more months to live, got justification by the verdict today. You breathe a little better because you are probably right.

The truth is, when a life ends, no one wins. No one reaches this far to stay alive and is ultimately given the verdict that it is ‘too late’. Please I ask you continue to pray for Charlie‘s parents through this ordeal.

Did GOSH Do Enough For Charlie? -Too Late

Did Charlie’s primary doctors from GOSH do all they could, to care adequately for him while put on the ventilator for life support? Or was it true, that his death sentence was declared since March?

My question is: Did Charlie continue to receive any form of therapy that is, physical therapy, while he was under the care of GOSH after March? This action speaks volume because we need to know if Charlie got the death sentence since the hospital decided that he was truly a ‘hopeless case’ in March?

Why does it matter or does it matter to anyone that a hospital has the right to give up on its patient and deny any form of treatment presumably before seeking a second opinion?

By raising these questions I hope we will seriously ponder on what is right and what is appropriate. Charlie deserves an answer from our conscience not out of our convenience.

The Frustration Continues For Chris And Connie

Every step of the way was difficult and obstructed by the Great Ormond Street Hospital in London. In fact the final obstruction came today from GOSH clearly showed how unwilling the Hospital was to help Charlie’s family.

If it is truly so important to GOSH to make sure that Charlie ‘dies with dignity’, then GOSH needs to release him to his family to let him die at home with privacy in his mom and dad’s final care. Just stop making absolute impossibility to Charlie’s final moment.

Judge Fransis Rulings

July 26 update: The battle continues.. Judge Fransis gave a statement that if Charlie’s parents and GOSH cannot reach an agreement by 12pm tomorrow (July 27 ), Charlie will die in a hospice facility.

July 27 update: Judge Fransis ruled that Charlie will die in a hospice facility and Charlie’s parents are disheartened by the outcome of the ruling today.

July 28 update: Charlie passed away today after the order to remove his life support executed.

Reflection on Charlie

Please pray for Chris and Connie as they did the best they could for Charlie. Although life does not always go the way we expect, we can only trust God that He knows why He is in a hurry to receive Charlie back in His arms in Heaven. The truth is even though the world let Charlie down, God will not. He is safe in God’s arms now. Let Charlie #restinpeace.

Hello everyone! My name is David and I am 4. I am going 5 on August 29. Happy Hugalicious Day! ‘Hugalicious is that it will never end’. Come celebrate Hugalicious Day with me on August 21. Post how you celebrate Hugalicious with me and hashtag it to #celebratehugaliciousdaywithdavid I love to watch your videos.

https://youtu.be/5_Vq8cEkJ4I

The Story Behind Hugalicious Day

David loves putting 2 words together and creates a whole new word. It’s his thing. He is absolutely creative and definitely a curious little guy. He is always looking for new ideas through his play and learning. One day he saw an advertisement and he shouted: ‘Cycleboard’! Now you ask: ‘What’s a Cycleboard’? 

By the time David is 4, he’s reading really well for his age. He calls himself  ‘Math Bee‘ and a great speller for his age. David enjoys playing games like ‘Angry birds’, ‘Bad Piggies’, ‘Cut the rope with Om Nom’ and others. He loves to sing and dance and adores minions and various characters in Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

Occasionally, he gets special treats by going to the play area in his favorite McDonald. Even though he is 4, David is able to google anything he wants to know on his computer. He aspires to become an awesome game host and his favorite is: ‘Who wants to be a millionaire?’  David is starting his schooling, a day before he turns 5, online with K12.com

Reasons Why Hugalicious Is Important To David

He loves playing with his friends and often looks forward to social activities, however, due to our present circumstance, we are unable to do so. David’s dad was and is still unemployed for more than 2 years now. We moved in to take care of David’s grandpa.

When David was 2, we gave him a $5 calculator as a Christmas gift that year. We could not afford more because of our circumstance. That turned out as an awesome idea because he loved numbers. Even to this day, he loves to learn everything new that is to do with numbers.

He does not attend birthday parties because they cost money. We celebrate his birthdays by going out to dinners and cakes just on his birthdays. Yet this little guy never once complain that we do not give him a birthday party.

Mom’s Thoughts And Reflection

As his parents, we cannot give him much like many kids his age, however, David never ask for anything. Most of what he has come from gifts his grandma bought for him on his first birthday. Often neighbors would drop by and gave him items he needed, solely by the grace of God.

David stays home most of time and so he loves his computer. When he brought up the idea about Hugalicious Day, I just love it. I hope that by doing this, David gets to learn he makes a difference even though he is 4. He would learn that his ideas can make someone else happy.

Bullying – A Deadly Epidemic That Needs To End

Do you know? Bullying is becoming a deadly epidemic in America. Yet, quite frankly, we are nowhere near addressing this issue. Will we ever see an end to bullying? For now, I simply cannot see how unless we as a nation address this with absolute honesty and says: ‘Enough is enough!’

Today, in my attempt to discuss the problems behind bullying, I hope to show you how serious and deadly this epidemic actually is and why we need to do something to stop it.

Bullying Happens Everywhere Not Just In Schools

Bullying does not happen just in schools. In fact, we see it daily and it is happening everywhere and at every level. We see it in work places, over the media and social networks, at home and sadly, our children pick it up and use it for various reasons.

Many of our children become victims to bullying and sadly, more are choosing suicide to get out of it. The bullying suicide statistics is ever climbing at an alarming rate. So have you wonder why so many of our children are either bullied or are bullies themselves?

Reasons Why People Choose Bullying

Bullying is not an issue just for our children alone, it is also for the adults. Why do people choose to bully?

People choose to bully because they are

1. stressed out and they simply slap their frustration on another person.
2. insecure and needs to present themselves bigger than they actually are.
3. cowards who pick on those weaker than them.
4. in need for affirmation because they lack it.
5. afraid of those who are different and better than them.
6. lacking in love from those they seek love and attention.
7. forceful and do not know how to relate and communicate appropriately.
8. hurting and manipulate to get what they want.
9. brought up believing that bullying is okay.
10. survivors – thinking that only the strongest survive mentality.

Bullying Is A Tell-Tale Sign 

Bullying is a tell-tale sign to something bigger. According the reasons above, I notice that one thing calls out to me. People hide their hurts and are afraid being truthful about their pain and needs.

Why as a society and nation that pursues freedom for its citizens, its people are not free being truthful as they are? Can this inability for truthfulness, a huge problem we have not addressed? A mountain we have no clue where and how to begin looking.

Can we be truthful when we address:

Tolerance – When we call on others for tolerance, we need to look at ourselves and honestly ask and demand that we are able to do likewise. If we are unable to meet that, then we should not put that expectation on anyone.

If we are intolerance of others opinions and views, be truthful about it. As we address others’ inability to tolerate, we need to look inwardly and address it within ourselves why we are intolerant of others at the same time.

Respect – We can agree to disagree on anything. We do not need to resort to name calling to those who disagree with us. When we communicate, we make sure we get our thoughts across clearly and to the point.

Believe that the receiving end of our communication has something good to offer to us.  Be respectful and return with kindness. Be an intensive listener. Simply, do unto others what you would want others to do unto you.

Love – It is not easy to love strangers, am I right? What do we know about them? So, why do we get so upset and frustrated communicating with strangers over the social media? Do we talk to our friends and neighbors in the same way?

The truth: Are we bullying strangers because we do not have to face them like we communicate with colleagues  and neighbors? Simply because there is no consequences to answer to? On the contrary, if we do everything out of love, we can love even strangers whom we do not know.

The Reason Behind This Deadly Epidemic – Bullying

The reason this epidemic is so deadly is because our youths are in crisis. The constant and relentless bullying is wearing our young people out, forcing them to choose suicide as the only option left to ease from their suffering and pain. Often, when a suicide attempt is successful, a life gone and ended.

The hardcore truth is the victims of bullying who attempt suicides are not only our youths but our children in their tween. If we as a society do not address this epidemic, we are going to lose our children to suicides. When will we wake up and do something before it is too late.

In Conclusion

It is not enough talking about what bullying does. We need to as a nation take a deeper look at ourselves, how we treat others, what we show by examples to our children, how we value life, and where we stand on bullying and ultimately how serious are we to say: ‘Enough is enough!’ We have a problem. It is time to end it once and for all.

Charlie Gard

Many of you heard about the story of Charlie Gard and the latest update requires our attention and our actions. The judge demands Charlie’s parents to give ‘new and powerful evidence’ demonstrating that he be kept alive to receive experimental treatment.

The dateline for this submission is on Wednesday and a second hearing will be held on Thursday this week. This can mean that if the judge decides to end Charlie’s life, it can happen by the end of this week. How is this possible?

Charlie, a 11-month-old baby suffers from a very rare mitochondrial disease and has brain damage. There is no cure for this disease presently. The hospital determined that the best treatment for Charlie was to remove his life support and allow him to die with dignity.

Many times, we heard doctors say that aborted babies are often children with various disabilities because they will not have good quality of life. It would be better for them to die than to live because there is no hope for them.

Yet, many times, we hear testimonies from parents that life is better because of their existence. They are better parents because of them.

Brain Damage And Muscular Degeneration

How is brain damage an answer to death? What about muscular degeneration and incurable disease? Are these answers reasonable enough to end a life? Have we seen it all?

In the 19th Century, Down Syndrome, which was known as ‘Mongolism’ was first discovered by a British physician named John Langdon Down. Meanwhile, any parents who had children with ‘Mongolism’ then issued a ‘death sentence’.

Yet, we have seen how science progressed since then. Lifespan for adults with Down Syndrome is now well above 50 years.

Brain damage is no longer a ‘death sentence’ for many of our children with various disabilities. Now how is rare mitochondrial disease different? Since science is so advanced these days, how is another rare form of disease keeping us from making life better for these children?

We are making breakthroughs everyday in science. One day, this disease will become another challenge we can overcome. For now, Charlie Gard’s life matters. We can do this because we can save his life.

Cancer Survivors & Charlie Gard

If we can hold on to hope for those who are suffering from cancers, that which is incurable for many survivors, how can we not hold on to any hope, especially for Charlie? Are our babies not worthwhile saving because they do not have their voices?

What would Charlie cry out if he is able to do so? If Charlie is to die in dignity, should not his parents allow to enjoy and have him for another day? How about for as long as he is able to receive the treatment and live?

In Conclusion – Charlie Gard’s Story 

Charlie needs your prayers. He needs a miracle. Even a change of heart from the judge is a miracle Charlie needs to get his treatment, for a chance to stay alive and a hope for his parents to have the time to spend with Charlie for as long as he is able to do so.

The only hope he has now is to get some form of treatment that can help him, keeping him alive. Please say a prayer for Charlie Gard this week. He deserves a chance to live not die in dignity.

To die, we can get it anytime, but to live, we have to show ‘new and powerful evidence’. What an irony.. Charlie needs you today.

Leave your comments below and let us know what you think or contact us if you have any question. We look forward to hear from you.

We Keep You Up To Date On Charlie

Breaking News on Charlie: Please click on the breaking News to find out more about Charlie’s situation. We ask that you continue to pray and support Charlie while he is still fighting for his life.

New Release on Charlie: Want to know more? Click on New Release to learn more.

Judge Francis seems in a hurry to remove Charlie’s life support according to the newest development. Please keep this family in your prayers.

Today, July 14, we finally get a good and encouraging breaking news on Charlie’s situation. Read all about it on our link.

July 19 update: Not only did Charlie get his first brain scan, Charlie is given U.S citizenship to fly to America for treatment.