Teen with Hodgkin's says he is ending year on high note

Abraham Cherrix still gets the occasional e-mail from a stranger, even though a year and a half has passed since he won a battle to seek a nontraditional style of cancer care.

Publicity surrounding his case - once on national TV and news magazines - has died down, and he no longer lives on the Eastern Shore, where he waged his court battle to quit chemotherapy in 2006. Still the queries come:

"Hi, I just want to know if you are still alive, because my neighbor said you passed away," one e-mail read.

Abraham laughed when he relayed that, in his characteristic wry manner, during a telephone interview.

The 17-year-old boy is alive and living in Floyd, a small Virginia town in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

This year was not as stressful as the previous year, when his parents, Rose and Jay Cherrix, were taken to court by Social Services for alleged medical neglect when they discontinued his chemotherapy treatment for Hodgkin's disease. The family instead was seeking an alternative medicine treatment in Mexico.

That battle ended in August 2006, when the family made a court agreement to have Abraham treated by a Mississippi doctor who combines traditional treatment with more innovative methods.

Still, 2007 has had its ups and downs.

The family's house on Chincoteague was foreclosed on in February, as the financial strain of their battle against the court and cancer caught up with them. His parents separated, and Abraham moved with his mother and four siblings to Floyd. He had to return to Mississippi twice this year to receive more radiation treatments for tumors that cropped up after his first round in the fall of 2006.

But Abraham feels like he is ending the year on a high note. He loves the mountains and the starry skies in the rural area where he now lives. He is pleased that a law was passed this year by the Virginia Legislature to help keep other teens from fighting the same court battle he did.

He is gaining weight. And he says his latest scans and blood work look good. He is due another in January.

His Mississippi doctor, Dr. Arnold Smith, said the teenager looked robust when he left his clinic in July, and that his scans were clear of tumors at that point.

"I have a good feeling about him," Smith said in a telephone interview from his Greenwood clinic. "I have a sense he has taken a long shot and won."

Smith, said, however, that it's too early to declare complete victory. He said that if Abraham makes it a few years without any recurrence, then he'll have a good chance at a healthy adulthood.

Smith, a radiation oncologist, treated Abraham with targeted radiation and immunotherapy, in which supplements and medicines are used to bolster the immune system.

Smith said he admired Abraham's spirit and sense of self. "He's very independent. He never thought like a child, but like a self-determined adult. He didn't want to be told what to do, but to be given options based on the facts."

Rose Cherrix said the family still confers with Smith, and has a family practice doctor and a chiropractor who monitor Abraham's health in Virginia. The chiropractor has started Abraham on an organic diet and added new supplements to his diet.

In June, when Abraham turns 18, the family will no longer need to make periodic reports to the Circuit Court judge in Accomack County, which was part of the agreement made in August 2006.

Rose Cherrix said every cold, every swollen lymph node - and there have been more than a few this season - is enough to make her worry. But she said Abraham has been upbeat.

Abraham says he knows he has to keep track of his health, but he doesn't live in fear.

"I look for different signs. Most people who get a cold that lasts for a while don't do anything about it, but if I get a cold that goes past a week, or a lump, I know I will go and get it checked out. But it's not something I worry about all the time."

He hopes to get a high school equivalency diploma next year and follow that with computer courses. He was home-schooled when he was younger, but he missed a lot of time while he was sick.

The children still see their father, Jay, who traveled from Chincoteague earlier this month to visit.

Rose Cherrix said it's been a tough year, but Abraham's upbeat spirit lifts hers as well. She considers their new home a place of healing.

Abraham said most people in the area don't know much about his history, and he's fine with that. But he also appreciates the people from across the country who ask about his health.

"There's still a trickle of e-mail, nothing like in the beginning," Abraham said. "But it's a nice token that people are interested and want to know how I am."

Elizabeth Simpson, (757) 446-2635, elizabeth.simpson@pilotonline.com