Tragedy for young Everton fan

A few months ago, we told you the story about Alfie Evans, a little boy placed in a coma for his own safety from unexplained seizures. Over 36,000 people are part of a Facebook group called ‘Alfie’s Army’ which helps raise funds for the family, offer moral support, and pray for his health.

In that group, Alfie’s father, Thomas, reported on December 7th that the hospital has decided that Alfie’s life should be ended. This decision comes despite the fact that the hospital has ceased efforts to diagnose Alfie and refuses to allow him to be transferred to another European hospital where more options could be tested and tried.

The hospital has decided, to use Thomas Evans’ words, that “Alfie must not be allowed to continued living” because his “existence is futile.” As a part of this decision on their port, the hospital is going to the court system to try to strip Alfie’s parents of their rights to make decisions for their son.

This is certainly not the end of this case. As we saw earlier this year in the case of Charlie Gard, these court cases can be extended and complicated. Sadly, if the hospital Alfie is currently at is refusing to continue attempts to diagnose, that means that while this court proceeding is going on, instead of that time being used to try to find a diagnosis for Alfie it will all be wasted, with the hospital only pursuing the death of this small child.

There are still ways we can help our little Evertonian. You can find a link to a petition calling for the hospital to allow Alfie’s parents to take him to a different hospital here. You can join the over 2000 people who have given financially to his cause here.

According to Thomas Evans, he recently spoke with Everton chairman Bill Kenwright who was very interested in helping any way that they could. We will see in the near future if the People’s Club gets involved in light of this latest turn.

Everton has been a long-time partner of Alder Hey Hospital, and numerous players have been involved in supporting young patients at the facility. With that in mind, Thomas reminds Alfie’s supporters that there are many wonderful nurses and people on the hospital staff and he appreciates what they are doing for his son. He and the family do not want anyone threatening or abusing anyone from the hospital. It will do nothing to help Alfie.

Please pray for Alfie and the family in the coming days.