Update: Teen who fled Chemo cured

[Details]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=9024383

Just an update for those who were following this - the 13 year old boy whose mom helped him flee chemo - he's now completing his chemo round, he's testing out cancer free - it all worked.

This is the one where he didn't like it because it made him feel bad, so they picked a religion to claim to try to get around having chemo - the judge ruled against them (this cancer is very nearly always fatal, the treatment is ridiculously successful - very nearly every single time), so the mother let him run away, went with him. They returned, went through chemo - and this is what should be the final update - looks like it all worked.

[HeyHeyStupid]

[quote=Details;13624017]http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=9024383

Just an update for those who were following this - the 13 year old boy whose mom helped him flee chemo - he's now completing his chemo round, he's testing out cancer free - it all worked.

This is the one where he didn't like it because it made him feel bad, so they picked a religion to claim to try to get around having chemo - the judge ruled against them (this cancer is very nearly always fatal, the treatment is ridiculously successful - very nearly every single time), so the mother let him run away, went with him. They returned, went through chemo - and this is what should be the final update - looks like it all worked.[quote] That is fantastic news. I wish everyone well!

But the media? GMAB

You say: this cancer is very nearly always fatal, the treatment is ridiculously successful. ???

[Details]

Yes.

The cancer is 90%+ fatal - it's one of the worst - it kills, and quickly.

It's also one of the easiest to treat - chemo works, no problems, 90%+ of the time.

It's not hard to understand why the courts found this one worth ruling on. Were the odds skinnier - if he had a chance of survival without treatment, if treatment had low odds of success, if there were any other treatment that remotely worked - then the parents would have had some rational reason to choose not to treat.

But in this case, for this cancer - there really was no other remotely rational choice.

Back when this story was first out - I did the research. The facts are the facts. His type of cancer is one of the first ones to be treated with chemo, because it's so well organized to let chemo work well - and it's so very deadly without treatment, and there is no other treatment.

[birdwatch]

I appreciate the update and happy for the boy. I hope this result will help other parents re-think resistance to medical treatment for their kids.