Child and Mother Refuse Cancer Treatment, Flee

Staff Writer, May 20, 2009

A boy whose family rejects modern medicine because of their religious beliefs is currently on the run with his mother. The 13-year-old refused treatment for cancer after he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in January. He received only one round of chemotherapy before his parents removed him from the radiation therapy and put him on an alternative treatment of herbs and vitamins.

A chest X-ray showed that the first round of cancer treatment significantly decreased the amount of cancer in his body. It was estimated that the boy had an 85 to 90 percent chance for a full recovery. However, since he has been taken off of the treatment, the cancer has grown back to its original size and it is expected that he will live five years without treatment.

Judge John Rodenberg issued an arrest warrant for the boy’s mother after she failed to appear to a court hearing, which may have placed the boy in foster care. The court is concerned about the wellbeing of the child, but his parents are convinced that chemotherapy is a poison, which is against their religion. The boy and his mother have been on the run since Wednesday. The boy’s father has been questioned, but he claims not to know the whereabouts of his wife and son.