If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Abraham's law (Cherrix)
http://content.hamptonroads.com/stor...5170&ran=84774
Teen with cancer says he's 'getting back into the groove' By ELIZABETH SIMPSON, The Virginian-Pilot © November 29, 2006 Abraham Cherrix says he is feeling healthy and hopes a medical scan scheduled in a few weeks will show that his cancer continues to be in remission. The 16-year-old Eastern Shore boy fought the judicial system earlier this year to choose non traditional treatment for Hodgkin's disease. He's enrolled in Chincoteague High School - the first public school experience for the home-schooled boy. He plans to track a bill being introduced before the General Assembly in January, called "Abraham's law," that he hopes will give other teens more freedom to choose their own medical treatment. "I've been getting back into the groove of life and just getting used to being normal again," he said Tuesday. Abraham was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease, a highly treatable lymphatic cancer, in late summer 2005, and went through one round of chemotherapy last fall. Follow-up tests in February showed that the cancer was still active, and he needed more chemotherapy and also radiation therapy. Because the side effects had been so severe, Abraham decided to try an unproven, alternative treatment at a clinic in Tijuana, Mexico. Social workers in Accomack County took his parents, Rose and Jay Cherrix, to court in May, alleging medical neglect. A juvenile judge's order that he return to chemotherapy made headlines across the globe - and the Cherrixes appealed. In August, an Accomack Circuit Court judge ruled that Abraham could instead go to a Greenwood, Miss., radiation oncologist who uses an approach combining conventional treatment and immunotherapy, which emphasizes foods and supplements that boost the immune system. After six weeks of treatment in September and early October, the tumors in his neck and near his windpipe had shrunk, and he showed no active cancer, according to Dr. Arnold Smith, the physician in charge of the treatment. Abraham will have a computerized imaging scan in December at Shore Memorial Hospital to monitor the tumors. Smith also is preparing a report for Accomack Circuit Court on Abraham's condition. The Cherrixes had agreed to report to the court every three months on how Abraham is doing until he turns 18. Del. John Welch III, a Virginia Beach Republican, has said he will sponsor "Abraham's law" for the General Assembly session that begins in January. The bill would change the child abuse and neglect statute to state that parents of mature children with a life-threatening condition who have made a well-informed decision not to seek a particular treatment would not be considered abusive or neglectful. "I hope it passes," Abraham said. "I think it will prevent other children from having to go through what I went through, so I feel a sense of accomplishment for all that's happened." |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Abraham's law (Cherrix)
Greegor wrote: http://content.hamptonroads.com/stor...5170&ran=84774 Teen with cancer says he's 'getting back into the groove' By ELIZABETH SIMPSON, The Virginian-Pilot © November 29, 2006 Abraham Cherrix says he is feeling healthy and hopes a medical scan scheduled in a few weeks will show that his cancer continues to be in remission. The 16-year-old Eastern Shore boy fought the judicial system earlier this year to choose non traditional treatment for Hodgkin's disease. He's enrolled in Chincoteague High School - the first public school experience for the home-schooled boy. He plans to track a bill being introduced before the General Assembly in January, called "Abraham's law," that he hopes will give other teens more freedom to choose their own medical treatment. "I've been getting back into the groove of life and just getting used to being normal again," he said Tuesday. Abraham was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease, a highly treatable lymphatic cancer, in late summer 2005, and went through one round of chemotherapy last fall. Follow-up tests in February showed that the cancer was still active, and he needed more chemotherapy and also radiation therapy. Because the side effects had been so severe, Abraham decided to try an unproven, alternative treatment at a clinic in Tijuana, Mexico. Social workers in Accomack County took his parents, Rose and Jay Cherrix, to court in May, alleging medical neglect. A juvenile judge's order that he return to chemotherapy made headlines across the globe - and the Cherrixes appealed. In August, an Accomack Circuit Court judge ruled that Abraham could instead go to a Greenwood, Miss., radiation oncologist who uses an approach combining conventional treatment and immunotherapy, which emphasizes foods and supplements that boost the immune system. After six weeks of treatment in September and early October, the tumors in his neck and near his windpipe had shrunk, and he showed no active cancer, according to Dr. Arnold Smith, the physician in charge of the treatment. Abraham will have a computerized imaging scan in December at Shore Memorial Hospital to monitor the tumors. Smith also is preparing a report for Accomack Circuit Court on Abraham's condition. The Cherrixes had agreed to report to the court every three months on how Abraham is doing until he turns 18. Del. John Welch III, a Virginia Beach Republican, has said he will sponsor "Abraham's law" for the General Assembly session that begins in January. The bill would change the child abuse and neglect statute to state that parents of mature children with a life-threatening condition who have made a well-informed decision not to seek a particular treatment would not be considered abusive or neglectful. "I hope it passes," Abraham said. "I think it will prevent other children from having to go through what I went through, so I feel a sense of accomplishment for all that's happened." http://www.statesman.com/news/conten...ldcancer..html statesman.com Cancer recurs in teen at center of custody dispute Family had fought previous treatment. By Lynn Brezosky ASSOCIATED PRESS Thursday, January 04, 2007 HARLINGEN - A teen at the center of a bitter custody battle between her parents and the state over her medical treatment is fighting cancer that has aggressively returned, her father said Wednesday. Katie Wernecke, 14, felt pain near her lower ribs that turned out to be a large mass, Ed Wernecke said Wednesday. According to the family's "pray for Katie" Web site, a medical scan found "multiple hot spots" of cancer. The state placed Katie in a Houston foster home when her parents refused radiation treatments for her Hodgkin's disease, a cancer of the lymph nodes. In subsequent custody hearings, the Werneckes said chemotherapy already had killed the cancer and they feared the radiation would do more harm than good. But a family court judge kept Katie in foster care because social workers and an oncologist said her odds of survival were at about 20 percent without further radiation treatment. Attempts to treat Katie during the months she was in foster care at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston stalled after she broke fasts and ripped out catheters. In November 2005, another judge returned her to her family. Since then, the Werneckes have been to several states trying various treatments, including intravenous vitamin C in Kansas and, ultimately, radiation. In October, the family's Web site reported that the cancer was in remission, and Ed Wernecke said the family wanted to resume life outside the spotlight. "The last time it was gone," he said Wednesday. "Now it's already back." The most recent Web site posting rails against some of Katie's medical treatment, saying the family thinks that the cancer in her lower chest "was seeded when they removed the chest tube" to drain a lung and that a doctor at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center needlessly removed Katie's thymus gland. "When I asked the doctor why, she said, 'Because she didn't need it,' " Ed Wernecke said. "That's old style learning. . . . (The thymus gland) fights the infection. Cancer's nothing but a foreign protein and foreign cells and the body sees it as foreign. That's the only way you can defeat cancer. Ultimately your body has to come back and take over." M.D. Anderson spokeswoman Julie Penne said the hospital could not comment. "Out of protecting her privacy we would not speak to that," she said. Ed Wernecke said Katie, a top student, had missed about a month of school to travel for treatments but was getting assignments and keeping up. He said she would return to school today. He said that both chemotherapy and radiation have failed and that his daughter was undergoing immunology treatments. In a similar case, a Virginia judge in July ruled that 16-year-old Starchild Abraham Cherrix could reject chemotherapy for his Hodgkin's disease in favor of alternative treatments. A doctor in September said Cherrix appeared to be improving. Find this article at: http://www.statesman.com/news/conten...ldcancer..html |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Hallelujah! Abraham Cherrix is improving | Ilena Rose | Kids Health | 42 | September 27th 06 09:05 PM |
Abraham's Law": A Bill For Parental And Patient Rights | Ilena Rose | Kids Health | 0 | August 17th 06 10:50 PM |
A tragedy in our imperfect nation ... Abraham Cherrix Tragedy | Ilena Rose | Kids Health | 18 | August 17th 06 03:23 PM |
The Abraham Cherrix cancer story the media won't print: Harry Hoxsey's cancer cures and the US government campaign to destroy them | Ilena Rose | Kids Health | 45 | August 8th 06 07:08 PM |
Battling cancer At home and in court | Ilena Rose | Kids Health | 4 | August 7th 06 06:24 AM |