Anonymous donor gives £20k for seriously ill baby to get treatment in the US
A couple who set up a fund in the hope of raising £1.2 million to get treatment in America for their sick baby son have been given £20,000 by an anonymous donor.
Specialists at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London want to stop providing life-support treatment to seven-month-old Charlie Gard.
Doctors say Charlie, who suffers from a rare genetic condition, should move to a palliative care regime.
But Charlie's parents, Chris Gard, 32, and Connie Yates, 31, disagree with the prognosis and want to be allowed to take him to a hospital in America.
A judge is due to analyse the case at a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in early April and decide what is in Charlie's best interests.
At a previous hearing, London's High Court heard that Charlie, who was born in August last year, has a form of mitochondrial disease - a condition which causes progressive muscle weakness.
His parents, the court was told, are "utterly devoted" to him, with the judge describing the case as "one of the saddest" it had come across.
Katie Gollop QC, representing the hospital, said that doctors felt "every day that passes is a day that is not in the child's best interests."
But Sophia Roper, representing Charlie's parents, said: "His parents believe that he is in much better shape than the hospital does."
Charlie's parents have launched an appeal on aGoFundMewebsite.
More than 15,000 donations have been offered and the amount raised has topped £300,000.