A few days ago, purenkind posted an article about Abraham Cherrix, a 16-year-old boy with cancer court-ordered to receive chemo. (http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/07/21/sick.teen.ap/index.html)

When I read his story, I wanted to know how I could help. Well, I just received an email from a friend with links to the Health Freedom Foundation and American Association for Health Freedom, which is taking on his case.

Here is the short version of his story from the Health & Freedom blogspot, and links to their site:

"Whether you believe in integrative medicine or not, this is a terrible situation.

"16-year old Abraham Cherrix has cancer - Hodgkin’s. He responded poorly to chemo last summer and in fact believed that it was killing him. By the time he got home after the treatments, he couldn’t walk – his father would have to carry him into the house.

"So he started to do research and decided to try a treatment (organic foods and herbal supplements – Hoxsey) in Mexico. His father, Jay, a bit skeptical, traveled with the then 15-year to Tijuana. When they returned, the parents talked to their son’s oncologist and told her that the family wanted to try an alternative therapy because the chemo was not working but wanted her to stay on and monitor the progress. She was very dismissive of their choice and told them she wanted no part of it. As soon as they left, she called family services.

"Not long after, the family received a summons to family court where they erroneously thought they just needed to explain their course of treatment. They walked in with no legal representation and ultimately lost partial custody of Abraham (who was also under court orders to not leave the state of Virginia)."

[thehealthfreedom.blogspot.com].

interestingly enough my father in law in canada went for Hoxsey in Tijajuana... the canadian health care system supported it. The first thing that should be done is a suit should be filed against the oncologist, secondly the parents should leave the country and file for refugee status.

They can look for pro bono help from a law firm. if the entire family agrees with their son's decisions... refugee status may work in a foreign country like canada... it's a thought.. but the child's life is more important.. but it's a permanent decision.

These are just my thoughts about 15 minutes after I've gotten up so they my not be the best.

morrisson66,

Those are good thoughts. I was just so stunned when I read the story, it's such a violation of his rights. What a nasty oncologist.

thank you so much greenie for researching this further. it is appalling. i sincerely hope Abraham's appeal goes well and he gets some pro bono legal support.

morrisson66, i think your thoughts about the whole family becoming refugees in canada is a good one, if their appeal doesn't work. btw, how did your father's treatment go? was it successful?

What a nightmare!


"Guns don't kill people, doctors do."

Boy, just goes to show you can't always trust your doctor. Too bad the family didn't move as soon as they made their decision to reject the chemo, but how could they have known the doctor's reaction? That's going to be just heart-rending for the parents if they have to watch their son go through the chemo again.

Yay for the Health Freedom groups!

Best wishes, Ally

as a last resort could thay report him dead?

kinda like how ken lay suddenly "died"

Just goes to show how you can't trust the Gov.! Who cares what a conventional doctor thinks, they have no right putting a gun to someone's head and forcing them to swallow their poison! And yet that is what the Gov. is forcing them to do. He's almost 18yrs old and yet he can't think for himself or decide what he puts in his own body? What about his rights? If he dies from the Chemo will those doctors and those judges be held responsible for Manslaughter? Of course not cause they have a license to kill. That is what the organized crime of "medicine" along with the mafia Gov. has come to in order to control everyone and control all of the profits. And people think that the US is a "FREE" country? What a joke! Everyone in the US is "OWNED" PERIOD! Like Lab Rats and Monkeys.

As far as what to do. If I were the kid or the kids parents I would file for Emancipation. A lot of child actors do it in order to not be under certain strict child labor laws and union rules etc. around that age. Legal sovereignty or whatever from their parents so that their parents are no longer their legal guardians. Giving them independent legal rights and say over themselves as an "adult". If they did that, wouldn't just as any other adult who can decide what type if any medical treatment they get or don't get, he will have that right to decide for himself? I believe it is only when a child has legal authority over them as from parents and don't have the legal rights of an "adult" that the gov. can step in like that and force their own dominance over them. Although I don't really know that for sure, since they obviously can do whatever they want to whoever they want, and people let this happen and don't stop the Gov.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/25/2006 05:05PM by nik.

Here's an update on the story:

[abcnews.go.com]

ACCOMAC, Va. Jul 25, 2006 (AP)— A judge ruled Tuesday that a 16-year-old cancer patient who has refused conventional medical treatment does not have to report to a hospital as previously ordered and scheduled a trial to settle the dispute.

Starchild Abraham Cherrix, who is battling Hodgkin's disease, a cancer of the lymphatic system, refused a second round of chemotherapy when he learned early this year that the cancer had returned.

Abraham chose to instead go on a sugar-free, organic diet and take herbal supplements under the supervision of a clinic in Mexico.

A social worker asked a juvenile court judge to require the teen to continue conventional treatment, and the judge on Friday ordered Abraham to report to a hospital Tuesday. Accomack County Circuit Court Judge Glen A. Taylor set aside that order.

"I feel free today. I was let off the leash," Abraham said after Taylor agreed to a stay and set a trial date of Aug. 16.

Taylor also ended joint custody of Abraham between his parents and social services officials.

Carl Bundick, an attorney for the department, told the judge the department would not object, provided a new trial takes place quickly.

"What the department is interested in is this young man being cured of cancer," Bundick said.

In a similar case last year, the parents of 13-year-old Hodgkin's disease patient Katie Wernecke won the right in November to make all her medical decisions after a court fight with Texas child welfare officials. Doctors had recommended chemotherapy and radiation; her father favored a program of intravenous vitamin C.

On the Net:

Abraham Cherrix: [www.abrahamsjourney.com]

It's a horrible tragic, unbelievably sad fact that every day, a lot of people, of all ages, shapes and sizes have to face this difficult decision.

Chemotherapy is a nightmare. It's a terrible thing when it goes really well, and I can't imagine how it must be when it goes poorly. But it does save lives. Not always, but sometimes, and it's hard to argue that. I can see how the judge might have looked at it.

On the other hand, this boy is close enough to make his own adult decision. He is old enough to quit school, drive, work, pay bills and live on his own, even become a parent himself if he so desires. I bet if he took a gun and randomly killed someone, he would be tried in adult court even if he isn't quite an adult in age. He is certainly aware that he is facing possible death, and I am sure he is also aware that the alternative treatment might do nothing to help him. No way did he or his parents make this decision lightly. They, and we, all must respect his choices as we would respect any other adult.

A very sad fact of life is that there are a lot of charlatans out there, preying on people suffering with cancer and any number of other illnesses. This doesn't negate the fact that there are also many alternative practitioners who are doing spectacular work, and who are genuine, but believe me, it's hard to sort out the good from the bad. Unfortunately, the judge really has no way of sorting this out either.

As a cancer survivor, I am constantly consulting with naturopaths, homeopaths, and other alternative methods. They are all properly qualified in their fields, yet the conflicting advise I get is astounding, even between people with the exact same education and qualifications. It feels like a crap-shoot, trying to figure out which advice is more or less likely to help. Still, I feel I am more likely to win this battle with them than without them.

For me personally, if I must go through chemo again, I will. I also know people who would chose not to, and I respect that. For now though, I also understand that I must keep myself strong no matter what. Last time, the chemo nearly killed me at one point. This young man is right to be concerned. It's that dangerous!

Hopefully this boy will find the means to be true to himself. He may have to break the law to do it, but I hope he can find his way through this. The best thing all of us can do is to include him in our prayers. There is a lot of power in that. Even if I had the power to interfere, I would not. There have been too many times when a higher power has directed my life exactly opposite to what I thought I wanted, and it turned out to be the very best thing in the end. Perhaps it will be the same for him. (However, if he and his family publicly let it be known they want help, and what they want, it might be different.)

Treasure your health if you have it!

Sapphire

I can totally understand and sympathyize with your point of view. I have a friend with cancer who is going through the same thing. Some - many - of the alternative healers are no better than voodoo. And I'm not just talking about the out and out charlatans, of which there are many. Equally bad are the ones who are well-meaning but who can't really help.

A few years ago, I tore a tendon in my shoulder. It was a small tear and I didn't realize at the time just what I had done. After a week or so, I did go to the local orthopedic guy, who was terrible. He just said, 'You have a frozen shoulder' and prescribed PT, which didn't work.

I made the rounds of the alternative healers here - the chiropractors, acupuncturists, osteopath, masseuses, the Bonnie Pruden trigger point therapy, physical therapy, you name it. These people were so out to lunch it's not funny. These were all the respected local healers that everyone raves about.

The osteopath was the last one I went to. I spoke to him personally before setting an appointment because I heard he did alternative things and I wanted him to schedule me for a cat scan so I could find out what the heck was going on. He promised he could and would do that, but wanted to try his osteopathic manipulations first. We did that and when his treatments didn't work, he had the nerve to tell me he thought I was 'in emotional and spiritual pain' and that was creating the problem in my shoulder. Not that I had been slammed against a wall going down a water slide at 30 miles per hour. If my arm were in better shape I would have slugged him. In the end I had to go to another doctor to get an Rx for the Cat scan because the bugger lied and didn'tt have hospital privileges.

So, yes, I have some perspective on pitfalls and shortfalls in the alternative health field.

But in the case of this teen, let's not forget that he already tried chemo and it didn't work. And he was planning to have his oncologist monitor him, he wasn't just going off to drink wheat grass juice. And he's 16, not 3. He has a right to make his own choices.

By the way, in my efforts to help my friend, I found someone who cured herself of very advanced cancer by using Dr. Schulze's Incurables Program. She had cancer of the ovaries that spread to her breast and hip, and was down to 80 pounds by the time she was diagnosed. She did the incurables program for 2 years but was cured way before that. At the end of the first 90 days, during which she fasted, she had gained 23 pounds, all the pain was gone, and she felt and looked fantastic. The spot on her hip was gone and the tumor in her breast was shrinking. So she knew she was on the right track. She said it was the hardest thing she ever did. It's a full-time program of basically torturing yourself with drinking tons of juice and broth with garlic; 2-3x per day skin brushing and hot and cold showers, exercise, and more. The program is very extreme but it worked for her.

Here's a link for an article entitled "When Healing Becomes a Crime"

It is really interesting - it's about the history of cancer treatment, detailing the Hoxsey herbal treatment and the rise of the American Medical Association in the early 1900's, and their subsequent attempts to imprison Dr. Hoxsey as a quack. (Before 1900 "conventional" medicine wasn't conventional at all; there were several schools of medical theory.)


[curezone.com]

sunshine,

This is a wonderful article and is making the rounds to my friends. Thank you for providing the link.

Glad you liked it!

Wasn't sure anyone would read it, it's pretty long.

I came across it while looking up alternative cancer therapies for a family friend who was undergoing chemo. After that I read some other articles and was shocked by how corrupt the cancer industry is in this country - the big business of cancer. Greed, power, prestige, influence, and politics - the usual crap.

I remember in molecular biology class my professor said that cell replication requires 3 things: a sugar, a base, and a phosphate - "And where does phosphate come from? Phosphate comes from the soil. Green leafy vegetables. That's why you have to eat vegetables - because if you don't, then you get cancer, because your cells can't replicate correctly."