Cherrix turning 18, free of cancer signs and court oversight

Abraham Cherrix, the teenager who fought a court battle on the Eastern Shore for the right to choose his own cancer care, turns 18 today, officially freed from reporting his medical condition to the Accomack County court that has required regular updates since August 2006.

"When I turn 18, I can make my own decisions," Abraham said Thursday from his home in Floyd, in the far western part of the state where he lives with his mother and siblings.

His latest blood results show no indication of the Hodgkin's disease he first was diagnosed with in 2005, according to Abraham and his mother.

He gained worldwide attention in the spring of 2006 when social workers took his parents, Jay and Rose Cherrix, to court, accusing them of medical neglect. Abraham, who was living in Chincoteague at the time, had refused to go through a second round of chemotherapy for his lymphatic cancer and also shunned radiation treatment.

He instead traveled to Tijuana, Mexico, with his father for a controversial alternative medicine treatment called the Hoxsey method.

That landed Abraham and his parents in a juvenile court in Accomack County, where a judge ordered him back to chemotherapy. The order spurred widespread debate on whether the government should get involved in family medical decisions.

A compromise was reached in Accomack County Circuit Court in August 2006. Abraham would not be required to have chemotherapy if his family consented to treatment from Dr. Arnold Smith, a Mississippi radiation oncologist who uses both conventional and more innovative methods.

Abraham and his family agreed to report his condition to the court every three months until he reached 18.

Abraham's battle led to a state law named after him that gives Virginia teens and their parents the right to refuse treatments for life-threatening ailments.

Since the fall of 2006, Abraham has received several rounds of radiation treatment under Smith's care, along with immunotherapy, in which supplements and medicines are used to bolster the immune system.

Abraham's latest bloodwork was reviewed by Smith this week, according to Rose Cherrix.

"Dr. Smith is very pleased," she said. "He said to keep doing what we're doing." Calls to Smith on Thursday afternoon were not returned.

Abraham said he still is taking vitamins and supplements recommended by Smith. He also adheres to a sugar-free, organic-based diet.

He said it's been about six months since he's had a scan of his chest and neck area, the location of previous tumors, but he has detailed blood work

conducted every couple of months, the results of which are forwarded to Smith for review.

He plans on getting his high school equivalency certificate this summer, because dual battles against cancer and the court system meant he missed a lot of school.

After that, he's thinking of getting computer training.

He's enjoying life in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and said he feels energetic going into adulthood.

"Eighteen is the legal age; it's like the ultimate checkpoint," Abraham said. "It's exciting and invigorating to know that (today) I will be able to do what I want with my health."

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