- A 12-year-old boy has been pronounced "brain-dead" by doctors in the UK.
- His mother is fighting the court system, which has determined he should be taken off life support.
- She told Insider that she "would never give up" on her boy.
A week after Archie Battersbee was found unconscious with a belt around his neck, the 12-year-old was due to fight in his first mixed-martial-arts competition.
The energetic tween had chosen the famous Biggie song "Hypnotize" as the tune marking his entrance to the ring.
Now, four months after the fight was set to take place, his mother, Hollie Dance, has been playing the 1997 hit in the desperate hope that Archie will respond to his favorite rap song as he lies in the hospital in a coma.
"We're doing everything we can," Dance told Insider, adding that the young MMA fan is "fighting to survive."
But Dance is in the midst of a battle of her own. The 46-year-old mom, of Southend-on-sea, England, is at the center of a legal struggle with the British court system, which has ruled that Archie should be taken off his life-support machine and no longer receive treatment.
Doctors have said that Archie is brain-dead, but Dance believes her son is showing signs of life such as breathing on his own and squeezing her hand.
She said the specialists have described the hand movements as a "reflex," but she's convinced there is hope for Archie and he needs "time to heal."
The case has attracted headlines across the world. The fate of the gifted gymnast has contributed to the ongoing right-to-life debate.
"It's legalized killing of children," Dance said. "It's disgusting and no parent should be put in this terrible situation."
The mom of three — along with Archie's dad, Paul Battersbee, 57, from whom she is separated — learned on Monday that the Court of Appeal in London had upheld the decision of a lower court judge who had ruled that doctors could legally stop treating Archie.
Planning to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights
Following the decision of the Appeal Court judges, Dance and her supporters plan to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights after the same panel prevented them from going to the United Nations.
Barts Health NHS Trust, which runs the hospital where Archie is attached to a ventilator, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a previous statement, the chief medical officer at Barts said the hospital's "thoughts and sympathies" were with the family.
Dance said she discovered Archie hanging from the upstairs banister of their home on April 7, in what she calls a "freak accident." She believes he was taking part in an online challenge to briefly black out before regaining consciousness.
She told Insider that he had used the cord of a dressing gown to try and asphyxiate himself.
Dance said she ran out of her house screaming when she found Archie, and a neighbor called for an ambulance. They managed to untie the ligature around Archie's neck, and he was given CPR by the first responders.
The boy was assessed by doctors at the hospital in his hometown before being transferred to the larger Royal London Hospital.
She said the medical team told her the next day that she had "time to get the family up to say goodbye," then they would remove Archie from the ventilator and have a "conversation about organ donation."
Dance refused to allow doctors to perform brain-stem testing on her son
"It literally happened in two minutes flat," Dance told Insider of the doctors' reaction. "There was no compassion, no empathy."
Dance told the doctors she didn't want him removed from the ventilator. She believes doctors had rushed to the conclusion that Archie was brain-dead and have made a series of unfair judgments while supervising his care, and has argued this in her case.
"They're doing absolutely nothing for him," she said.
Three weeks later, after Dance and her family refused to allow the doctors to perform brain-stem testing on Archie, the trust that runs the hospital started legal proceedings.
A judge sided with the trust, but the tests couldn't be carried out because Archie didn't respond to a formal pre-brainstem test. Dance subsequently went on to lose a court battle over whether her son should have an MRI. On June 13, the high court judge reviewed the scans and ruled that Archie was "dead."
"It's been setback after setback," Dance said.
The battle has continued, with more than a dozen hearings that led to Monday's ruling to uphold the decision to withdraw life support. Dance said she would take the case to the European Court of Human Rights in the hope that Archie's care can be continued.
The family is hoping a doctor in the US might take on Archie's case
"I've read miracle stories of people in America and all over the world showing signs of recovery and waking up," Dance told Insider. She added that Archie should be given more of a "chance." She said the hand squeezes were positive signals. While she said "there are more days when he doesn't do it than when he does," she said the family will continue to fight for his "right to live."
In the meantime, Dance said they are trying to get Archie to respond to them.
She said they have attempted to stimulate him by playing rap music in his room at the hospital, putting scented oils under his nose, and placing honey on his tongue. They have also shone flashlights, she said, to perform "eye exercises."
"I'm just keeping things going, so to speak," the mom told Insider.
She is also exploring the option of moving Archie to the US where he might "get the treatment he needs," she said. Dance and her supporters have set up a GoFundMe to help with the cost of lawyers and Archie's care.
The mom said she is doing everything within her power to save her son. "It's so important that I hold myself together and stay strong for Archie," she said.