Cancer teen freed from chemo order
Social services had threatened to force 16-year-old to take treatments

There will be no forced chemotherapy for a 16-year-old Virginia cancer patient, following the announcement of an agreement with social services workers that will allow Abraham Cherrix to determine his own treatment course.

The ruling Wednesday from Circuit Court Judge Glen A. Tyler in Accomack County said he had approved a consent decree that both social workers and the patient and his parents had agreed to follow, according to the Associated Press.

The report said the decree will allow Abraham to choose his own Hodgkin's disease cancer expert who must be board-certified in radiation therapy and be interested in alternative treatments. Additionally, the report said the family must update the court on the 16-year-old's condition and treatments every three months until he's 18, or cured. They also must tell the court if treatments stop.

As WorldNetDaily reported earlier, a juvenile court had ordered Abraham to report to a hospital for a cancer treatment he didn't want, but Tylor had suspended that order and scheduled a trial this week.

As this week's hearings were beginning, the judge made the announcement, and terminated a "joint custody" arrangement set up in the lower court giving authority over the teen's treatment to both his parents and social services.

Under supervision from a clinic in Mexico, Abraham is on a sugar-free, organic diet and takes herbal supplements.

His parents had been confronted by a social worker who threatened to take the boy away by force, his father, Jay Cherrix of Chincoteague, Va., reported.

Jay Cherrix said his son already has had chemotherapy without results. He told Sean Hannity's national radio program he supported his son's desires.

"When the social-service worker came and interviewed me, I told him how Abraham felt and about how we had met a person who had been cured by this [alternative treatment] and how we were supporting Abraham's decision. I said, 'What will you do with my little boy? Will you take him somewhere and strap him down and put duct tape on his mouth and pump [him] full of this stuff if he doesn't want it?'

"He said, 'No, I will come to your house with a uniformed officer, and I will take your son by force if he resists. And I will take him to somebody who will do that.'"

Jay Cherrix said that was just the most recent of the threats.

"They told Abraham that if he did not go and have an X-ray, they would put him in a juvenile detention center with drug dealers. They told him that if he did not do that they would put him in a foster home. � We never thought that people could actually say that to a young fellow like that. We've been surprised by lots of stuff but we have a strong faith and we believe that we'll prevail," Jay Cherrix said.

Hannity was outraged.

"I can't believe we're gonna live in a society where the government now, through a court order, is gonna send some bureaucrat into your house, take you out in handcuffs, slap you on a gurney and stick some medicine in you�"

The juvenile court order had been issued by Judge Jesse Demps and would have required Abraham's parents to bring him to Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters in Norfolk and consent to whatever treatment the hospital recommended.

Abraham, who said he wouldn't accept more chemotherapy no matter what, is working with the Hoxsey Treatment through a Biomedical Center in Tijuana, Mexico.

Dr. Allen Chips researched the plan and told WVEC-TV in Norfolk it's a diet that enhances a body's own immune system, so a supplement, the diet and herbs allow the body to kill off its own cancer.

Officials say the type of lymphatic cancer Abraham is highly treatable in early stages.

In a report on Hamptonroads.com Abraham thanked those who have supported him.

"It's all over," he told reporters. "It's everything we fought for; everything that we wanted to ever have, we've won. We finally got our freedom back."

The judge also noted that he could make no finding of medical neglect by Abraham's parents.

A lawyer for the Accomack County Department of Social Services said the department considers the agreement to be in Abraham's interest, the report said.

The case was begun when Abraham, fearing for his life, rejected another proposed round of chemotherapy. The oncologist who was working with him then notified social services officials.

"There doesn't appear to be any reason to believe that these parents are not acting responsibly and with their son's best interests at heart," said Jan LaRue, chief counsel for Concerned Women for America.

Source WorldNetDaily