Only one thing is harder than lifting a white coffin — lowering one

As he thinks of the parents of Charlie Gard, Tony Heffernan, who lost both his children to Batten disease, says families need to have hope for their terminally ill child, and for themselves as they cope with their loss.

Spare a thought for all the parents who feel the same pain that Charlie Gard’s parents, Connie and Chris, feel right now.

Unless you have been in that position you will never really know the anguish and never-ending pain of being the parent of a child you know is going to die from a rare, genetic disease.