A mother who took her son out of Minnesota to avoid court-ordered chemotherapy for his cancer told a judge on Tuesday she now believes the treatment is necessary to save his life. The judge then ruled that Daniel Hauser can stay in his parents’ custody.
Thirteen-year-old Daniel has Hodgkin’s lymphoma that an oncologist who examined him on Monday said has significantly worsened.
Daniel and his mother, Colleen Hauser, missed a court appearance last week and left the state to seek alternative treatments. But both his parents told the judge they now understand their son needs chemotherapy and will set aside their religious objections to it.
Attorneys for Brown County family services and Daniel’s guardian ad litem, or guardian for the lawsuit, objected to returning custody to Colleen and Anthony Hauser.
“The only thing that has happened since we were last here is that Colleen Hauser fled the state with her son,” said Tom Sinas, attorney for the guardian ad litem. “I don’t see how that is the basis for revisiting the custody decision.”
When Judge John Rodenberg asked an emotional Colleen Hauser if she now believes chemotherapy is necessary to save her son’s life, she said: “Yes I do.”
Rodenberg said he felt the best place for Daniel was with his parents, as long as he could trust that they would go along with the oncologist’s recommendation that Daniel undergo at least five chemotherapy sessions. The first is scheduled for today at Children’s Hospitals and Clinics in Minneapolis.
The family prefers natural healing practices suggested by a religious group called the Nemenhah Band, which says it follows American Indian beliefs.
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