Christian mother appeals to public for support after judge rules brain-damaged daughter can die

5-year-old Pippa Knight is in a vegetative state but her mother insists she is recovering (Photo: Paula Parfitt)

A Christian single mother is asking the public to help her raise £100,000 to finance a legal appeal against a judge's decision to permit her brain-damaged daughter to die.

Pippa Knight, 5, suffers from a rare condition called acute necrotising encephalopathy and is in a vegetative state. 

Doctors treating her at the Evelina Children's Hospital in London said it was in her best interests to end life-support, and turned to the courts for a ruling.

Following a trial in the Family Division of the High Court in London, Mr Justice Poole ruled last week that Pippa should be taken off life support. 

Her mother Paula Parfitt, from Strood, Kent, disagrees with the verdict. She says her daughter is recovering from her brain injury and should be allowed home to be cared for by her family. 

She has launched a crowdfunding campaign on GoFundMe to help cover the cost of an urgent appeal against the judge's verdict. 

The 41-year-old said her daughter was a "beautiful" and "sweet loving girl", and in an update to the crowdfunding page yesterday said that she "moves a lot now every day". 

"I know that as a Christian I am a great believer in Gods Law and that is to preserve life. Salvation and creation a must [sic]," she wrote. 

"I am reaching out to the public for their financial support but also for their love, dignity, decorum and strength to resonate, indwell and surround our girl as she is an asset to both Queen and country.

"God bless you all with no fear."

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