Forced Chemo Improving Tumor, Not Attitude
SLEEPY EYE, Minn. (CBS/AP) A young boy who fled his home to avoid chemotherapy is still fighting court-ordered treatment, even though it appears to be working.
X-rays show the tumor in the chest of a Daniel Hauser, 13-year-old boy from rural Minnesota, has shrunk significantly after two courses of court-ordered chemotherapy. But Hauser said Tuesday he is angry a judge has ordered him to continue the treatment, and disputes his doctors' claim that the chemotherapy caused the tumor to shrink. Hauser and his mother fled Minnesota last month to avoid the treatment prescribed by his doctors, before a court ordered them to return.
The teen was not in court when the judge issued his latest order, but told The Associated Press he had hoped he would be able to stop chemotherapy, which he said makes him ill.
"I get really sick when I do it," the teen said during an interview at his family's farm in Sleepy Eye. "You get so dizzy and I get a headache right away."
Daniel said he believes the improvement in his condition is being caused by his alternative treatments, which include vitamin supplements, ionized water and organic foods and other dietary restrictions.
His parents also remain concerned about the risks of chemotherapy, which they initially rejected for religious reasons, and also because they said it harms the body. But they told Brown County Judge John Rodenberg during the Tuesday hearing that they would take their son to a Wednesday chemo appointment.
Colleen Hauser told the AP at her home that doctors said it would take six months to treat her son's Hodgkin's lymphoma when he was first diagnosed, but they've seen improvement in the past few weeks.
"Wow," she said. "Something's working."
But when asked if she credits the chemotherapy, she said, "I'm not going to say it's not, but I just want to make it clear that I would like a better plan, a better treatment plan, for Danny."
The judge earlier assured Colleen and Anthony Hauser they can continue looking for other ways to treat their son.
"If at the end of the day Daniel lives through this, I am not going to care ... what cures him," the judge said. "I want Daniel to be well, and I know you do too."