THE father of terminally ill toddler Alfie Evans says he will meet doctors today to discuss taking his son home from hospital.
The 23-month-old boy has an incurable degenerative neurological condition and doctors say his condition will not improve, that he is suffering and should be allowed to die.
Alfie's life support was withdrawn on Monday before his ventilator was withdrawn on Tuesday, following a series of court rulings that sided with the doctors and blocked further medical treatment.
On Wednesday, a court rejected a last ditch appeal by Alfie's parents Tom and Kate against an earlier ruling preventing them from flying him to Rome for further care.
The Italian government had agreed to grant Alfie citizenship, with a hospital in the Vatican offering treatment.
Speaking on Thursday morning, Tom Evans said he planned to meet doctors at Liverpool's Alder Hey Hospital to discuss whether his son could go home.
He said that he would go back to court if the meeting does not go well.
“We got rejected yesterday to go to Italy unfortunately,” said Mr Evans outside Alder Hey Hospital. “We could take it further but would that be the right thing to do, would there be more criticism?
"So what we do today is we have a meeting with the doctors at Alder Hey and we now start asking to go home.
“Alfie doesn’t need intensive care any more. Alfie is lying on the bed with one litre of oxygen going into his lungs and the rest is him".
Mr Evans added: "Some people say it’s a miracle. It’s not a miracle – it’s a misdiagnosis.
"As I sit next to Alfie's bedside, every second of every day, it encourages me more and more that he will live for 'x' amount of months, possibly years."
Alfie's plight has received considerable international media attention in recent days, especially in Italy and the United States.
Police on Wednesday issued a warning to supporters of the Evans parents after medical staff at Alder Hey Hospital experienced what they called "unprecedented personal abuse".
Ch Insp Chris Gibson said social media posts were being monitored and “any offences, including malicious communications and threatening behaviour, will be investigated and, where necessary, will be acted upon."
