Advertisement

Alfie Evans' family ask supporters to stop doctoring pictures of him

<em>Plea – Alfie Evans’ family have asked supporters to stop adding halos and angel wings to photos of the youngster (Picture: Facebook/Alfies Army)</em>
Plea – Alfie Evans’ family have asked supporters to stop adding halos and angel wings to photos of the youngster (Picture: Facebook/Alfies Army)

Supporters of Alfie Evans have been asked to stop adding halos and angel wings to photos of the youngster in online tribute because they upset his mum.

Alfie’s aunt Sarah Evans made the plea to the so-called Alfie’s Army, writing on Facebook that the images are upsetting his mum Kate James.

Writing on the Facebook group, which has 805,000 members, she said: …”pictures people are doing of Alfie with wings and halos saying R.I.P Alfie, it’s really upsetting Kate so if you want to have a picture of Alfie on your profiles that is fine but none of the above on them please”.

Alfie died on Saturday after his life support treatment was withdrawn on Monday following a long-running legal battle.

The 23-month-old’s parents, Tom Evans and Kate James, opposed withdrawing life support from the youngster, who had a degenerative brain disease, and wanted to take him abroad for treatment.

<em>Plea – the message was written by Alfie’s aunt Sarah Evans to the Alfies Army Facebook group (Picture: Facebook)</em>
Plea – the message was written by Alfie’s aunt Sarah Evans to the Alfies Army Facebook group (Picture: Facebook)

A six-month battle with Liverpool’s Alder Hey Children’s Hospital saw medical staff allegedly targeted and a mob try to storm the hospital doors.

Despite a series of legal tussles including the Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights, successive judges agreed Alfie had been given “world-class” healthcare but his brain was so damaged that further treatment was “futile” and it was in his best interests to withdraw life support, against his parents’ wishes.

MORE: White House chief of staff denies calling Donald Trump an idiot in private
MORE: Elderly woman, 95, likely to die from brain haemorrhage after being splashed by passing cars

North West MEP Steven Woolfe has proposed an ‘Alfie’s Law’, which would give parents of terminally-ill children more say in end-of-life hospital care.

He said: “The cases of Charlie Gard, Ashya King and now Alfie Evans show a dangerous trend of public bodies depriving parents and families of the right to make decisions they believe are in the best interests of their children.”

<em>Battle – Alfie’s parents have been involved in a protracted legal battle (Picture: PA)</em>
Battle – Alfie’s parents have been involved in a protracted legal battle (Picture: PA)

He said: “Parents’ rights should neither be ignored nor dismissed as irrelevant by hospitals and courts, who believe they know best and have the power, money and resources to overwhelm families who simply want to save their child.

“We demand a change in the law to restore the rights of parents in such decisions.

“All parents should be allowed an independent advocate to defend their case with the right legal and medical expertise and financial equality of arms.

“Now is the time to act. We cannot have another baby, another family, have to go through the struggle and torment the Evans family have. It’s time for Alfie’s Law.”

Asked if she would support such a law, Prime Minister Theresa May said her condolences are with Alfie’s family but she believes medical experts should be the ones to make decisions in cases such as his.

Speaking on a visit to Brooklands Primary School in Sale, Greater Manchester, Mrs May said: “This is a tragic case. I think all of us feel enormously for the parents of Alfie.

“This is a great tragedy to have to go through, the death of a child, and particularly to see it happen in this way.

“It’s important that decisions about medical support that are given to children and to others are made by clinicians, by those who are expert in that matter, but I think at the moment we all feel for Alfie’s family and our condolences are with them.”