ACCOMAC, Va., July 26 (UPI) -- A Virginia judge has ruled that a teenage cancer victim can temporarily discontinue conventional medical treatment.
A judge in Accomack County, Va., reversed a juvenile court judge's order that Starchild Abraham Cherrix must receive radiation and chemotherapy, The Washington Post reported. The judge scheduled a trial Aug. 16 on the issue.
The boy, now 16, and his parents agree on his treatment, putting their trust in an alternative therapy from Mexico. Cherrix says that four rounds of chemotherapy have destroyed his body, the newspaper said.
"I truly believe that this massive dose of chemo and radiation would finish me off completely," Cherrix said in the Post report. "This is my body, and my parents have the right to help me take care of it the way they are."
Cherrix, who lives with his parents in Chincoteague, Va., was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease last year. Rebecca Byrd, the oncologist who had been treating him, reported the family to child welfare authorities when he failed to appear for more treatment.
