Hollie Dance: Archie Battersbee’s mother fought “until the end” to save her son
Hollie Dance thought her son Archie Battersbee was taking part in a dangerous online challenge that went viral on TikTok.
Archie Batterbee
Archie Battersbee, a 12-year-old boy, died recently and people were shocked at the way authorities handled the situation. Hollie Dance has vowed to “fight to the end” before her son dies. Sky News says after losing her latest court case to keep her son on life support, the mum squeezed her cup of coffee and said she would keep fighting even in the morning. She said, “I’m not one to sit down and cry. I never stopped moving. Do you know I drive my kids 40,000 miles a year? The reporter said the mother often wore shoes designed for running. Hollie is a single mother and was a dancer. She worked seven days a week to feed and care for her children. “I had to pay their father to watch over them. I did everything I could to help them with their passions, like Archie’s mixed martial arts, Lauren’s love of horses, and Tom’s boxing,” she said.
Barts Health NHS Trust said Archie’s brainstem was dead and they asked the court to let them do a test to prove it. The Trust was against the child’s family and they wanted Battersbee to stop receiving care immediately. Hollie said, “It’s not time yet. Why don’t they let him try? People get longer for broken bones. But in the end, the court did not listen to the mother’s pleas and told all the treatments that were being given to the child to stop.
The mother also talked about what happened and how so sad it was. Hollie thinks her son took part in a dangerous TikTok challenge that went viral. He injured himself trying the trick, and they found him at their home in Southend-on-Sea with a rope around his neck. His mother immediately ran for help, knocked him down and put her mouth to his. She said to me, “I don’t remember what happened. But the other day, I briefly left the hospital. It was the first time that I was not there or in court, and I started to have memories of what had happened. I got sick.”
Even though the doctors said Archie’s brain was getting worse. But her mother still had to go to court several times. She talked about how difficult each was, but the second High Court battle was the toughest. Doctors said Archie was ‘probably dead’ as there was no brainstem test during the hearing. His other children who went to the session had to listen to the doctors say over and over again that Archie was dead. It was a difficult time for the whole family. Hollie lost almost everything that happened. His only victory was when his lawyers were able to show that the criminal standard of proof should be used to decide if someone was dead.
