I have been staying as far away from the Charlie Gard story as I possibly can.

The reason being is that the details of this story as so gut-wrenching for me, as a mom, that I can’t even begin to fathom the desperation of little Charlie’s parents.

Most of you probably know the story, by now.

Charlie Gard is a U.K. baby who was born with a rare genetic disorder with a very difficult name – encephalomyopathic mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome – or MDDS.

The condition prevents him from breathing on his own.

The U.K. was content to close the book on little Charlie, but his parents fought for him. They have sought permission to bring him to the U.S., in order to undergo experimental treatment.

Seriously, how many of us as parents wouldn’t go to the ends of the earth, if even for a single chance to save our child’s life?

Great Ormond Street Hospital, in London have attempted to block Charlie’s parents from bringing him to the U.S., saying that the experimental treatment would harm him.

Grasp that, if you can.

You can’t take your dying baby to the U.S. to receive treatment that might save him, because it might also harm him. It’s best to leave him here, where the courts are willing to let him die.

Because dying isn’t harm, or something.

The U.K. Supreme Court sided with the hospital and the European Court of Human Rights refused to hear an appeal from Gard’s parents.

The European version of “Human Rights” is apparently very different than what we think of as human rights. Shouldn’t life be the first human right?

Charlie’s story has gained widespread attention, and today, there is a spark of good news in the case.

We just passed amendment that grants permanent resident status to #CharlieGard and family so Charlie can get the medical treatment he needs.

— Jeff Fortenberry (@JeffFortenberry) July 18, 2017

That’s awesome.

Representatives Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) and Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) proposed the legislation, designed to make it easier to bring Charlie and his parents here to receive the treatment being denied him in his own country.

We can’t know if the U.K. courts have any other heartless moves up their sleeves. There’s been so much done and said surrounding this case, already, and it really does give the worst impression of the U.K. court system, as well as the death panels of their government healthcare system.
We also can’t know if there’s anything that can be done for little Charlie to prolong his life. We don’t know if this treatment will help.

The value, however, is in the trying. Charlie’s life is worth that, and if it takes pushing his parents to the head of the line, giving them legal residence here, in order to try, then it is absolutely worth it all.