Posted on 07/13/2006 10:25:14 AM PDT by SirLinksalot
Teen cancer patient battles to choose own treatment 16-year-old wants alternative therapy, not ordered chemo
RICHMOND, Virginia (AP) -- A teen cancer patient fighting to use alternative medical treatment said he told a juvenile judge in a closed hearing what it's like to go through chemotherapy and he didn't want to relive it.
"I told him my story ... so he could understand where I was coming from and live through me," 16-year-old Starchild Abraham Cherrix said.
In all, the judge heard 11 hours of testimony before the two-day hearing concluded late Tuesday. At issue is whether the teen can make his own medical decisions and can keep living with his parents and four siblings on Chincoteague, an island off Virginia's Eastern Shore.
The judge is expected to issue a written decision by July 18.
The teen, who is known as Abraham, has Hodgkin's disease, a cancer of the lymph nodes.
Three months of chemotherapy last year made him extremely weak. So when he learned in February that his cancer was active again, he turned -- against doctors' advice -- to a sugar-free organic diet, herbs and visits to a clinic in Mexico.
A social worker asked a judge to require the teen to continue conventional treatment.
In May, the judge issued a temporary order finding Jay and Rose Cherrix neglectful for supporting their son's choice to pursue alternatives. Judge Jesse E. Demps also ordered the parents to share custody of Abraham with the Accomack County Department of Social Services.
Abraham's parents face losing custody completely.
"What it boils down to is does the American family have the right to decide on the health of their child," Jay Cherrix said, "or is the government allowed to come in and determine that themselves ...
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Why is it a 16 year old is able to chose to have an abortion but NOT allowed to chose his own cancer treatment?
I think the court would take a petition from someone far more seriously if they weren't named Starchild Cherrix.
While I probably wouldn't choose his desired course of treatment for myself I certainly think he and his parents are entitled to seek their own remedy, without the interference of the all powerful state.
Not only choose to have an abortion but to not have the parents notified of the medical procedure as well.
How nice it would be if I could get the govt to force people to be my customers and force them to pay whatever exorbitant fees I feel like charging like the medicos can.
/sarc
Seriously, if these people want the govt off of their backs all they have to do is let their helath coverage lapse. If they don't have the money to pay for treatment the medicos concern for this boy's life will disappear really fast.
Well, if he was my kid, with recurring Hodgkin's, and he told me he wanted to try a sugar-free organic diet, I'd drop-kick him all the way to the oncologist for chemo, radio, surgery, whatever they've got.
Death from cancer is ugly, and children, even intelligent, articulate children, are not mature enough to understand that death is forever.
The child would be medicare eligible once the parents' resources are gone.
UVA, I know for a fact, has a very good department that can get money for oncology treatment for kids with cancer.
In Chincoteague he's closer to MCV (Richmond) and even closer to EVMS (Norfolk).
Straight to the heart!!
I've come to the conclusion that liberals have oppositional behavior disorder. If we just started acting liberal, the democrats would become the most hardcore conservatives you ever saw.
I was diagnosed with it as a kid but I got over it.
However, in this case, both parents are supporting the child's choice. And on top of that, he did previously go through chemo. So it's not a case of some loony parents who believe that organic food, or nonsense New Age "crystal healing" or "aromatherapy", or nothing-but-prayer, are the only acceptable treatments for illness, and who have brainwashed the child into believing the same, or into fearing that the parents won't love him if he rejects their looniness in favor of real medical treatment. This sounds like a sane family where the adults are in charge, and are supporting a reasonable choice made by their nearly adult child.
I can tell you from experience that sometimes the chemo is much worse than the cancer. Hubby had liver cancer--8" X 5" X 5" and had about a month of chemo. It made him so weak that last Wed. his bp was 66/42, 68/48 and at the hospital it was 108/68. He was in so much pain that they gave him an extreme amount of morphine in an IV. The chemo caused his skin to break down and he was in extreme pain from that, too.
Forgot to add that he died Sat. night with his family around his bed.
Way more $$$ to be made per cancer patient?
Sheesh. As long as this kid's family is paying for it, he should be able to buy whatever treatment the family thinks is best. Of course, if I'm paying for it, screw 'em - - I don't care what the court decides.
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