Charlie Gard's parents will soon be welcoming the newest addition to their family, a healthy baby after the loss of their firstborn.
Three years ago, Charlie, an 11-month-old child, died of a rare genetic disease. His parents bid on to take him to the US for experimental treatment but sadly they lost.
Charlie's Story
In the year 2016, Charlie Gard was born a healthy baby boy to parents Chris and Connie Gard. Few weeks passed, and his parents noticed that Charlie was not able to lift his head like any other baby could, thus signifying muscle weakness. After a few months, he was losing a lot of weight and muscle strength.
Charlie was then admitted to a specialist children's hospital at Great Ormond St. where he was put on a breathing machine in the intensive care unit. Doctors ran a biopsy on him for they suspect him to have a genetic condition that affects his muscle and brain.
The result came out positive of an extremely rare condition called infantile onset encephalomyopathic mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome ("MDDS" for short).
How Charlie's Parents Coped
Connie was reminiscing the incident 3 years ago, saying she was so stressed thinking that she could have done more to save her dying child.
Charlie's parents represented themselves in his case since they could not afford a lawyer.
Chris said that they did not understand how the law works. Had they known what they know now, they could have won the case that could have saved their son's life.
Apart from having to face the loss in court and of their only child, the parents even had to deal with some trolls who even sent a message to Connie calling their son "worm food" 10 minutes after he died.
The Recovery
The couple had a hard time moving on, but upon seeing the two pink lines in the pregnancy kit, and knowing that soon they will be having a baby girl, they know that their relationship is getting better.
Connie's pregnancy was hard. She had to endure a series of genetic testing done to her. Nevertheless, the result always makes the waiting and painful procedures worth it.
After 11 weeks, test results came out and everything was good.
When Connie received the good news, she decided to share it with their son's "forever bed" - meaning his grave.
Chris said he was also delighted to hear about the news. However, he was also scared of the thought that the same thing could happen to Connie again.
He also said that he had the same worries as when Connie was still carrying Charlie inside her womb. He was uneasy throughout his wife's pregnancy, thinking if he would be able to bond with his child.
Nevertheless, the moment his eyes laed upon his child, all his worries went away. All he was seeing was a beautiful human in front of him.
Now, in Connie's second pregnancy, because of Chris' love for Charlie, he could not imagine loving another baby as he did with his son. Still, he is sure that once the baby is born, his worries and fears will immediately disappear on their own.
Finally, Chris said that both he and Connie have a lot of love to give. Even if Charlie was harshly taken from them by a disease, they feel lucky for being given the chance to do it again.
