U.S. President Donald Trump offered help to a terminally ill infant an ocean away in a Twitter post on Monday after his parents lost a legal battle to give him experimental therapy in the United States.
The baby, 10-month-old Charlie Gard, has been at the center of a long legal battle between his parents, who wanted him to undergo an American therapy trial, and specialists at the hospital in London who said the treatment was experimental and would not help.
“If we can help little #CharlieGard, as per our friends in the U.K. and the Pope, we would be delighted to do so,” Trump said in a morning Twitter post.
The baby, who will be 11 months old on Tuesday, suffers from a rare genetic disorder that has left him unable to move his arms, legs or to breathe unaided. He has a form of mitochondrial disease – a genetic condition that causes progressive muscle weakness and brain damage.
Trump waded in to the complex case as his fellow Republicans in the U.S. Senate struggled to reach consensus on a healthcare reform plan that would slash spending on healthcare for low-income Americans.
It was unclear how the U.S. president would propose to help in the case.
The baby’s parents, Chris Gard and Connie Yates, launched a fundraising appeal to help pay for his doctors’ bills in the United States. They have raised 1.3 million pounds ($1.68 million) from more than 83,000 donations, according to his Gofundme page.
Source: Trump offers to help terminally ill UK infant in tweet | Reuters
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