07/25/2006

By SONJA BARISIC  / Associated Press

A judge ruled Tuesday a 16-year-old cancer patient who has refused conventional medical treatment does not have to report to a hospital and ordered a trial to settle the dispute.

"I feel free today. I was let off the leash," Starchild Abraham Cherrix said after Accomack County Circuit Court Judge Glen A. Taylor agreed to a stay. Abraham has undergone alternative treatment approaches for his cancer, such as herbal treatments, after an initial round of chemotherapy.

A juvenile court judge on Friday ordered Abraham to report to a hospital Tuesday for treatment of his cancer. The judge refused to lift his order Monday and Abraham's parents sought a stay.

In setting aside the lower court order Tuesday, Taylor also ended joint custody of Abraham between his parents and social services officials, which was also ordered by the juvenile court judge.

Taylor scheduled a trial for Aug. 16.

A lawyer for Abraham and his parents argued that if the lower court order was allowed to stand, any further legal appeals would be moot.

"Once those doctors take control of Abraham, then the game is over in terms of their appeal that they're entitled to by statute," said John Stepanovich, lawyer for Jay and Rose Cherrix.

Abraham's parents embraced as Taylor lifted the order.

Rose Cherrix said she and her husband were fearful that Abraham would be taken away from them and ordered to undergo chemotherapy.

"We feel like we are going to get to at least be heard this time," she said outside of court. "We don't feel like we were heard before."

Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell filed a brief supporting the stay, arguing that Abraham deserves the right to appeal before undergoing medical treatment.

"It would have been a violation of Abraham Cherrix's due process rights if the lower court order had been implemented prior to an appeal," McDonnell said in a statement. "The interests of justice required that a stay be granted."

The hearing began one hour before Abraham was to report to Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters in Norfolk, about 80 miles from the courthouse.

Abraham was so weakened by three months of chemotherapy last year that at times he could barely walk.

He refused a second round of chemotherapy when he learned early this year that his Hodgkin's disease, a cancer of the lymph nodes, was active again. He chose instead to go on a sugar-free, organic diet and take herbal supplements under the supervision of a clinic in Mexico. A social worker then asked a judge to require the teen to continue conventional treatment.

In his order Friday, Judge Jesse E. Demps found the parents neglectful for allowing Abraham to pursue alternative treatment. He required them to continue sharing custody of Abraham with the Accomack County Department of Social Services, as he previously had ordered.

Carl Bundick, an attorney for the department, told the judge the department would not object to a suspension of that order, provided that a new trial would take place quickly.

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

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On the Net:

Abraham Cherrix: http://www.abrahamsjourney.com