Geplaatst:13 okt 2006 11:24 - Gewijzigd: 13 okt 2006 11:24

Ill teenager: „I’m feeling wonderful”

NORFOLK - The ill teenager who won a court fight to forgo chemotherapy is coming home to Virginia (USA) this week, feeling energetic and hopeful that five weeks of an alternative treatment will help him defeat cancer.

Audiostream:

„I’m feeling wonderful”, said Abraham Cherrix, 16, who has Hodgkin’s disease, a cancer of the lymphatic system. „There’s a pretty good chance that I am cancer-free.”

Abraham underwent treatment with low doses of radiation, which he said was bearable but made him queasy, but shrank the tennis-ball-sized tumor in his neck to the circumference of a half dollar. The tumor in his chest similarly has decreased, he said.

He also underwent immunotherapy, which strengthens the immune system through supplements and food, Abraham said last week by phone after completing his course of treatment at North Central Mississippi Regional Cancer Center in Greenwood, Mississippi.

Abraham said he’ll have a CT scan in Virginia in two months to monitor his condition, and he’ll return to Mississippi for a checkup with the center’s medical director and radiation oncologist, Dr. Arnold Smith, a month after that. Abraham’s tumors shrank after chemotherapy at a Norfolk hospital last year but later returned.

At an August court hearing, Abraham’s attorneys and social services officials reached a resolution to allow the teenager to forgo chemotherapy and let him be treated by an oncologist of his choice who is board-certified in radiation therapy and interested in alternative treatments.

The family must provide the court updates on Abraham’s treatment and condition every three months until he’s cured, or turns 18, and notify the court immediately if treatment is discontinued. (AP)