Teen girl and mother fight the state over right to refuse chemo cancer treatment

[bpj62]

98. Son with Cancer

Since I appear to be the first one who had a child with Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma I will phrase my response carefully. My son was 4 1/2 when he was diagnosed. There was never a thought in my mind that my wife and I would ever refuse him treatment. He is now a healthy 13 year old. Yes chemo sucks and yes it can do some permanent damage but every person responds differently to treatment. My son lost his hair then grew it back, he had chubby cheeks from the steroids that he was given. he got mouth sores, sometimes he got motion sickness the day after treatment. However he is alive and I know he is grateful to be alive. I haven't read anywhere that this young lady is terminal, just that she is very concerned about the possible long term affects of the Chemotherapy which I completely understand. She is 17 and while I concur that she is almost an adult and is probably very capable of making sound decisions does she really understand that other than chemotherapy and radiation, there are not any proven herbal remedies for curing cancer. Believe me I would have much rather had my sons cancer cured by natural remedies. left unchecked Non Hodgkin's or Hodgkin's will eventually kill her and it will do so within a short period of time. If her outlook is not terminal why would you want to give yourself a death sentence at such a young age. I hope she makes the right decision for herself. In the cancer world we have two sayings one is "Cancer Sucks" and the other is "Fuck Cancer'.