11 y/o Quits Chemo because Jesus and Indigenous Treatments

[lulumama]

From the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC) Some highlights.

An Ontario judge has dismissed an application to take an aboriginal girl from her family for chemotherapy.

The judge was deciding whether the Children’s Aid Society should intervene in the case of an aboriginal girl whose family removed her from chemotherapy at a Hamilton hospital in favour of traditional medicine. The girl has been undergoing treatment for leukemia in Florida.

"I cannot find that J.J. is a child in need of protection when her substitute decision-maker has chosen to exercise her constitutionally protected right to pursue their traditional medicine over the Applicant's stated course of treatment of chemotherapy," Edward said, as he read his ruling aloud.

Edward, citing the testimony of two McMaster Children’s Hospital doctors, agreed the child wasn't capable of making her own medical decisions. But he found it was the mother’s aboriginal rights — which he called “integral†to the family’s way of life — allow her to choose traditional medicine for her daughter.

"In applying the foregoing reasons to the Applicant's section 40(4) application, I cannot find that J.J. is a child in need of protection when her substitute decision-maker has chosen to exercise her constitutionally protected right to pursue their traditional medicine over the Applicant's stated course of treatment of chemotherapy."

"The application is dismissed. This is not an appropriate case to consider cost."

"I wish to thank all counsel for their efforts in this very difficult case."

— Judge Gethin Edward

"It is dismissed. It is dismissed … aboriginal rights are upheld," said a family friend, in tears, as she called the girl's mother from inside the courtroom.

Outside the court, Six Nations Chief Ava Hill and New Credit First Nations Chief Bryan Laforme welcomed the ruling, saying it has broader effects across Canada.

"This is monumental," said Laforme. "It reaffirms our right to be Indian and to practise our medicines in the traditional way."

Hill said the mother is "overjoyed," with the news.

When asked about what specific treatment the girl is receiving now, Hill declined to say, adding that was between the family and the girl's traditional healer — which Hill said involves the same confidentiality of a doctor-patient relationship.

Mark Handelman, the lawyer representing the Children's Aid Society, said this case should remind those involved in future medical cases that patients' values and traditions should always be considered.

"In treatment decisions, the values and beliefs and wishes have a clear place."

Handelman, an expert in bioethics, said the family hasn't completely ruled out chemotherapy if it becomes necessary.

The girl’s mother has defended her decision to seek alternative cancer treatment at the Hippocrates Health Institute in Florida, a centre that focuses on nutrition and naturopathic therapy.

In a letter to CBC News, she wrote, "I will not have my daughter treated with poison .… I have chosen treatment that will not compromise her well-being and quality of life."

The family paid the institute $18,000 for the treatment. In a video obtained by CBC News, institute director Brian Clement says his institute teaches people to "heal themselves" from cancer by eating raw, organic vegetables and having a positive attitude.

"We've had more people reverse cancer than any institute in the history of health care," he says.

I hope I did this correctly.

This case just makes me see RED! I don't understand the link to traditional Native American medicine. She's in a clinic started by a quack 'doctor' that mostly advocates a raw food diet. Is that Native American medicine?

Not saying these are not good parents just very, very misguided in my opinion.

[Rescinded and Mended]

I have no words.

I am always sickened whenever I see a family make a choice like this instead of proceeding with chemotherapy. ALL has such a high cure rate that there is no reason not to. As hard as chemo is, every parent should want to give their child the best possible chance for surviving cancer.

The fact that a quack doctor is insisting that mainly a change in diet will cure it just as well as chemo makes this so much worse.

[acheronbeach]

How is Jesus part of the first nations culture?

Or Floridian alternative medicine administered by a white guy?

I can give some insights on Brant CAS. I've done several cases coming out of Six Nations, and the agencies there tend to be insular, suspicious and secretive to "outsiders" - those perceived as white/Canadian. It's understandable, given the history of the Haudenosaunee, but it (IMHO) leads to choices that are often not in the best interests of the client. The first instinct tends to be to side with the Nation (and obviously, this isn't true of all... just quite a lot of people on the reserve).

[tropaka]

How is Jesus part of the first nations culture?

The first girl who refused chemo and whose father is a pastor was the one who claimed Jesus came to her in a vision. She has relapsed and is said to be close to death...which makes this latest decision more puzzling:

http://www.thespec.com/news-story/50286 ... cally-ill/

The father of an 11-year-old New Credit girl who refused chemotherapy asked churches around the globe to pray for her because she is critically ill and close to death.

Makayla Sault's cancer has relapsed, provincial court family division heard during the case of a second aboriginal girl with acute lymphoblastic leukemia who has also refused chemotherapy in favour of traditional healing. She can't be identified because of a publication ban.

Ontario Court Justice Gethin Edward is expected to rule Friday on whether the second girl should be forced to undergo chemotherapy in the precedent-setting case that saw McMaster Children's Hospital take the Brant Family and Children's Services to court for refusing to intervene when the girl, in August, stopped treatment that had an 80 to 95 per cent chance of curing her.

Brant CAS also didn't take action in May when Sault stopped chemotherapy because of side-effects. Sault, whose dad is a well-known pastor at the New Credit Fellowship Centre, said she saw a vision of Christ in her hospital room telling her she was already healed.

We are believing together for divine miracles to take place.

Kenny Sault

Makayla's father

On Nov. 6, Christian music star Adam Crabb posted on Facebook and Twitter that Sault was critically ill. Crabb posted an update on Nov. 8 that was signed by her father, Kenny Sault.

"As many of you know Makayla suffered a major infection and had to be hospitalized (Nov 5)," read the post.

"At that point because of her weakened immune system from chemo (that she stopped 8 months ago) the doctors gave her 24 hours. She is home (Nov. 8) and is asking for the body of Christ to stand in the gap in prayer for her against this infection."

He went on to say the Nov. 9 service at the fellowship centre was being dedicated to his daughter.

"We are asking all churches around the globe to dedicate a time to prayer in their service," he wrote. "We are believing together for divine miracles to take place … Nothing is impossible. She thanks everyone for their outpouring of love."

Another family member, Lindsay Sault, commented on Crabb's post saying, "Praying for God's mercy and love for this precious little girl."

The Sault family did not respond to a request for comment from The Spectator through their lawyer, Katherine Hensel.

Just over a month ago, a Facebook video of Sault declared she was "alive and well."

"I'm on a boat cruise right now with my friends and family," the healthy-looking tween said in the Oct. 4 video. "I just want everybody to know that I'm alive and well and I'm healed."

Sault went to the Hippocrates Health Institute in West Palm Beach, Fla., which believes in curing cancer with a positive attitude as well as eating a raw plant-based organic diet and clearing your life of contaminants. The other girl refusing chemotherapy sought similar treatment.

The institute's co-director, Brian Clement, has come to Ontario — including Six Nations — at least twice in the past six months.

A talk he gave in October was on the nutritional benefits of eating raw food and the one in May was entitled "All About Cancer and Conquering Disease with Living Foods."

The institute is licensed as a massage establishment by the Florida Department of Health. Clement has a clear and active licence as a nutrition counsellor.

Clement did not respond to The Spectator's request for an interview.

"Eat a raw plant-based organic diet," Clement tells cancer patients in a promotional video for the institute. "This is how we've seen thousands and thousands of people reverse stage four 'catastrophic' cancer."

He also tells patients: "Change your lifestyle first with your attitude. Be positive."

In addition, patients are advised to make sure they don't do things that "contaminate you and pollute you."

"Your immune system is what heals you," states Clement. "There is no magic in this process. It's common sense. If you use common sense and what we've learned here at Hippocrates for six decades, you are going to have the same results so many others have."

jfrketich@thespec.com

[Vivi_music]

How is Jesus part of the first nations culture?

Not that I want to defend the family at all. Cases like these make me feel really uncomfortable. I just... ugh! I have no words.

But from what I know of native traditions in Canada, there is a lot of syncretism between native beliefs and christian faith. A lot of first nations were forcefully converted to Catholic or Protestant church and it kind of integrated itself into their identity. Some conversion happened mainly in the 1800's but a bunch of nations became Christians much sooner. Like the Huron-Wendat who were very pious in the late 17th century and wanted the Jesuits to come in their village in the 1630's (contrary to a lot of first nations). Same with the Mohawks who still to this day venerate catholic Saints like Kateri Tekakwitha (who lived as a recluse in the late 1670's) and believe in traditional faith both at the same time. It's hard for me to explain I think, but it isn't unheard of in Canada. Sorry for the history lesson.

[browngrl]

That is a huge part of it for me. Knowing that ALL isn't a death sentence and while the treatment often has long term effects that current research is looking to reduce it is successful in almost all cases and most children with ALL do well and have long lives.

In cancers that still have really low survival rates, or even 50% survival rates I think I would understand the thinking more.

The type of cancer that this young girl has an excellent survival rate WITH treatment. Without treatment the prognosis is grim*. This young girl will almost certainly die - and the death can be quite painful. I hope that the parents at the very least allow her to have the powerful painkillers she will need and don't rely on chanting, rituals or juicing or whatever other "alternative" medicine they have chosen.

*edited to add: Prior to the 1970's when childhood leukemias first started being treated with modern chemo regimens the diagnosis was a death sentence.

[treemom]

The type of cancer that this young girl has an excellent survival rate WITH treatment. Without treatment the prognosis is grim*. This young girl will almost certainly die - and the death can be quite painful. I hope that the parents at the very least allow her to have the powerful painkillers she will need and don't rely on chanting, rituals or juicing or whatever other "alternative" medicine they have chosen.

*edited to add: Prior to the 1970's when childhood leukemias first started being treated with modern chemo regimens the diagnosis was a death sentence.

Yeah I know :). I work for the children's hospital that pioneered the first treatment that led to any survival rate. Prior to the first total regimen ALL has a 4% survival rate. Without treatment it is fatal.

[Rescinded and Mended]

I once met a woman who was whose daughter was treated for ALL in the 1970s. Doctors told the mother to expect the worst, but the girl was given treatment and did beat the odds. She grew up and now has several children.

That girl was definitely the exception rather than the rule. I don't really have a point here except that I like that story. :)

[treemom]

I once met a woman who was whose daughter was treated for ALL in the 1970s. Doctors told the mother to expect the worst, but the girl was given treatment and did beat the odds. She grew up and now has several children.

That girl was definitely the exception rather than the rule. I don't really have a point here except that I like that story. :)

During the 70s the survival rate for ALL was still about the 50%. If I was at work I could actually check, but alas I am still in bed posting from my iPad. I have a friend who works with me who was treated in the hospital during the 70s, which was still when they did cranial radiation for ALL. He was three when diagnosed and his parents were told to go home, buy a coffin and make funeral arrangements because it would be too emotionally hard to do it as he got more ill and closer to death.

Someone told them about St. Jude and they drove all night to get here. 40 years later my friend lives and works with me trying to raise the funds to make sure the awesome research and treatment keeps happening.

They are good stories. They tell the importance of science and hope. Then men and women who were willing to take the risks to their career and their reputation, Danny Thomas who was paying back a country he felt had helped him, the first donors, the first scared parents who allowed the brutal treatment knowing the chance of it saving their kids lives was slim, but would likely help so many others, the patients...seriously those people are amazing. (I have teared up a bit writing this). I am so lucky to work in an environment where every single day I see the results of those sacrifices and the science. It is completely humbling

(Sorry, thread jack...I am super passionate about our mission and I do tours of the hospital a bunch and so I know a lot of the history and story behind how ALL came to be a disease that is so incredibly curable.)

[Rescinded and Mended]

Thanks for sharing this, treemom. I'm tearing up reading it. I did read about the work that Danny Thomas did all those years ago beause he wanted treatment to be possible for those who couldn't afford it. My mother donated to st. Jude's for years, and I now do it as well. We never know in life when we or someone we love might need services like this for cancer treatment.

Hope...that's the one thing that every cancer family has to cling to, is the hope that it will be all right one day. I have to believe that, most of all for my own son. :)

[tropaka]

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2014/11 ... manno.html

We are all our children’s keepers.

It is surely the most crucial covenant of any society to watch over the welfare of minors when their parents or guardians either can’t or won’t.

But a Brantford judge on Friday turned that core premise on its head.

Aboriginal culture, not a youngster’s very life and death dilemma, has triumphed. Traditional healing can be substituted for the scientific medical intervention that has a 90 to 95 per cent chance of curing a gravely ill little girl.

It was indeed a precedent-setting decision from the bench. I will be blunt: First Nations parents can now kill their kids — because that is the inevitable consequence — on the grounds of aboriginal sovereignty, the historical exceptionalism which invests aboriginal peoples with special legal and constitutional status.

That’s what the jam-packed courtroom was cheering Friday, showing how dismally skewed priorities have become in this sad case where everybody clearly has striven to do the right thing for a cancer-stricken 11-year-old — and got it catastrophically wrong.

How this finding, delivered by Ontario Court Justice Gethin Edward, can be reconciled with an existing ruling rendered years ago by the Supreme Court of Canada — that state intervention is a legitimate restriction on religious freedom when a minor’s life is at stake, a decision that arose over the refusal of Jehovah’s Witness parents to permit blood transfusion for their severely anemic one-year-old daughter — remains to be seen. But an appeal would take time, even if expedited, and that’s what the little girl hasn’t got, time.

In his 15-page decision, Edward concluded the aboriginal girl has the right to reject chemotherapy in favour of traditional healing, in what is believed to be the first case of a child allowed to refuse life-saving treatment.

“It is this court’s conclusion that (the mother’s) decision to pursue traditional medicine for her daughter is her aboriginal right,†Edward wrote. “Further, such a right cannot be qualified as a right only if it is proven to work by employing the western medical paradigm. To do so would be to leave open the opportunity to perpetually erode aboriginal rights.â€

So group rights are the paramount issue; not a child’s life that hangs in the balance. She is cultural collateral.

Edward agreed with McMaster Children’s Hospital — the applicant — that the child did not possess the capacity to make her own medical decisions. In the historical context of judicial process, the girl — her identity protected by a publication ban — might have been referred to Ontario’s Consent and Capacity Board, which exists to weigh these very matters of life and death consequence and is uniquely qualified to do so. Yet Edward simultaneously determined that the case should be decided by the Ontario Family Court Division — him.

The Brant Family and Children’s Services — the presiding CAS — had argued very vigorously argued for these cases to be brought before Ontario’s Consent and Capacity Board. In fact, the CAS even said it might still take the case to the board even if the judge ruled for them to apprehend the child and force chemotherapy.

This is the CAS which adamantly refused to take the child into care against her mother’s wishes so that treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia could be resumed. That chemotherapy for the bone marrow cancer diagnosed in August was halted mere weeks later in favour of traditional healing methods.

The CAS had refused to act, siding with the First Nations family’s preference to choose what can best be described as a homeopathic regimen. The specifics of this traditional medicine regime, called Ongwehowe Onongwatri:yo, has never been revealed.

This is the same CAS, Brant Family and Children’s Services, which decided not to intervene in a similar case earlier this year. In that instance, another First Nations child, Makayla Sault, also suffering from acute lymphoblastic leukemia, similarly refused chemo (which had begun at McMaster) because of the awful side effects, in favour of traditional healing.

Instead, her mother ultimately took Makayla to a quack in West Palm Beach run by an individual who, according to the Florida State health authority, is neither a licensed doctor nor a registered naturopath. Cancer treatment in the Hippocrates Health Institute’s “Life Transformation Program,†as reported by a CBC investigation — Aqua Chi Ionic Footbath, BioEnergy Field Intervention and The Power of the Mind in Getting Well Program — costs upwards of $18,000.

Makayla is the daughter of a well-known pastor at the New Credit Fellowship Pastor. The child claimed to have been visited by Jesus, who told her she was now healed, adding that “God the creator has the final say over my life.â€

In a video released in May, Makayla stated: “I have asked my mom and dad to take me off this treatment because I do not want to go this way anymore. I am sick to my stomach all the time and I lose about 10 pounds because I couldn’t keep nothing down. I know that what I have can kill me, but I don’t want to die in a hospital in chemo, weak and sick.â€

In an October Facebook video, Makayla appeared well and said she was enjoying a boat cruise with family and friends. But a fortnight ago, a posting by Christian music star Adam Crabb disclosed the child had been hospitalized with a major infection. She has relapsed and is now critically ill.

We have seen where failure to intervene leads. In his ruling, Edward indicated that the mother of the 11-year-old in his case had also taken her child to “an alternative cancer treatment facility in Florida.†That was Hippocratic Health Institute. Its director has lectured at both ailing girls’ communities in recent months.

There is no question that all the parents involved in both cases are devoted to their children. The girls are loved. And it must be excruciating to watch a child suffer through the debilitating aftermath of chemotherapy. It is a poison, after all. There are clearly occasions when the inevitability of death makes it pointless to continue with invasive treatment, where the sufferer is best left to spend the remaining weeks or months at peace, in a do-no-harm palliative environment.

But the advent of a new, smart bullet-type drug in conjunction with aggressive chemo has massively improved the cure outcome from those with acute lymphoblastic leukemia from where it was less than a decade ago.

This is far more than a slim chance for the First Nations 11-year-old. Her family’s status as aboriginals should not be sufficient to deny the girl a future.

In deciding that the youngster is not in need of child protection — taking the girl into CAS care as McMaster had urged — Edward writes he’s not “satisfied that there has been an extinguishment of (the mother’s) right to practice traditional medicine apart from the dark history of our country’s prosecution of those who practiced traditional medicine . . .â€

But quack treatment in the U.S. is not traditional aboriginal medicine. Even that specious argument doesn’t apply.

The likely tragic outcome will indict us all as a society that has forsaken one of our precious children.

[2xx1xy1JD]

This has to be appealed. There's no way that this interpretation of aboriginal rights can stand.

For some reason, the Brant CAS doesn't want to get on the bad side of the Band. They are a smaller agency, and maybe they thought that they didn't have the resources to fight this. This decision, though, is insane and suggests that almost anything could be justified in the name of native rights. This isn't about the "western medical paradigm". It's about the fact that this child is pretty much guaranteed to die without the chemo regime, and almost certain to live if she does get it.

[VGL]

The mother was prepared to flee the country with her daughter if they had been ordered to undergo treatment

http://www.thespec.com/news-story/50318 ... ing-chemo/

Makayla, the first little girl in this situation, will likely not last the week.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

This has to be appealed. There's no way that this interpretation of aboriginal rights can stand.

For some reason, the Brant CAS doesn't want to get on the bad side of the Band. They are a smaller agency, and maybe they thought that they didn't have the resources to fight this. This decision, though, is insane and suggests that almost anything could be justified in the name of native rights. This isn't about the "western medical paradigm". It's about the fact that this child is pretty much guaranteed to die without the chemo regime, and almost certain to live if she does get it.

Something else that worries me in these types of cases is that it can easily end up in a weird politically pressure situation where "following our traditions" (be it Native or some other ethnic group or religious thing) ends up being interpreted as "explicitly not doing the mainstream thing" and there is pressure for people to officially "choose" to "not bow under government pressure" or "stand up for our religion against the haters" or whatever terms people might use, and so feel they can't "back down" and follow the mainstream treatment without losing face. Or where you're "not Christian enough" (or whatever religion) if you don't go only with the faith-based prayer healing. Etc.

FWIW there have been some Jehovah's Witnesses who had their kids forcibly given transfusions who later wrote about being thankful for it because it removed the situation from their hands, they were able to remain "fighting against it" but their kids got the treatment and lived anyway.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

Orac over at Respectful Insolence has blogged about the case today: http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2014/ ... th-cancer/

I was wondering if he would write about it, as he has covered several other cases of kids opting out of chemotherapy in favor of various quack treatments (raw food diet, Vitamin C, etc) before.

[2xx1xy1JD]

The mother was prepared to flee the country with her daughter if they had been ordered to undergo treatment

http://www.thespec.com/news-story/50318 ... ing-chemo/

Makayla, the first little girl in this situation, will likely not last the week.

I don't say this lightly, but the Brant CAS is seriously fucking up their obligation to actually protect children in order to avoid conflict and keep a good relationship with the Band.

The CAS has powers, including the power to apprehend a child. If they suspected that the mother was about to bolt with the child, they could have prevented the child from leaving the hospital and kept the mother away. They chose to pass the buck instead.

I wonder if the judge was influenced by the fact that the mother and child were already out of the country, and therefore out of reach of any court order, by the time this came to court.

GardenVarietyCitizen:

Yes, this has unfortunately become a banner case for native rights, instead of a discussion on the benefits of difficult but proven treatment vs. snake oil with almost-guaranteed death.

There is a long and difficult history with native groups and child protection agencies in Canada. Grossly misguided policies like residential schools and sky-high rates of taking children and placing them in foster care or adoption in non-native homes totally devastated native society. Child protection laws in Ontario changed as a result. The native band is a party to the case - they get served with the court documents, have the right to file a response and plan of care, and need to sign off on any agreement. Any order made needs to take a child's native heritage into consideration when determining what plan is in that child's best interests.

So....there would be a lot of native leaders cheering this decision, because it goes farther than any case I can remember in supporting native rights.

Unfortunately, those rights come at the expense of the basic rights of native children to proper medical treatment and life.

[2xx1xy1JD]

I found a copy of the actual court decision:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/hea ... dgment.pdf

The judge ruled that nothing is allowed to interfere with an existing native right. Since native healing traditions predate the Europeans, native mom has the right to make medical decisions for her daughter based on those traditions (I don't see how the Florida clinic fits within pre-conquest native traditions, btw) and no law or court can stop her. Apparently, this right is actually more absolute than the constitutional rights in the Charter of Rights, since it is not subject to section 1, which allows "reasonable limits prescribed by law as may be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society". So, freedom of religion can be subject to reasonable laws, but aboriginal rights cannot.

The decision is going to be embraced by native groups, because it's a really wide interpretation of constitutional native rights. And this little girl is going to die, because her right to live takes a back seat.

[shedemei]

I don't say this lightly, but the Brant CAS is seriously fucking up their obligation to actually protect children in order to avoid conflict and keep a good relationship with the Band.

The CAS has powers, including the power to apprehend a child. If they suspected that the mother was about to bolt with the child, they could have prevented the child from leaving the hospital and kept the mother away. They chose to pass the buck instead.

I wonder if the judge was influenced by the fact that the mother and child were already out of the country, and therefore out of reach of any court order, by the time this came to court.

Is this the same org that let Lev Tahor run to Guatemala with the kids they were supposed to be protecting?

[2xx1xy1JD]

Is this the same org that let Lev Tahor run to Guatemala with the kids they were supposed to be protecting?

No.

In Ontario, child protection laws are supposed to be enforced by individual Children's Aid Societies (CAS for short) for each county/region. This case involves Brant CAS, Lev Tahor involved Chatham CAS.

Resources and general approach to cases can vary between different CAS agencies. Toronto CAS is the biggest agency, and it has around 20 lawyers on staff. Smaller agencies may just contract their legal work out to a private firm. I do have some concerns that some of these smaller agencies may not have been able to handle more complicated cases that went beyond individual bad parents, and involved groups asserting religious or aboriginal rights, plus parents fleeing the jurisdiction with kids.

[LainieR]

No.

In Ontario, child protection laws are supposed to be enforced by individual Children's Aid Societies (CAS for short) for each county/region. This case involves Brant CAS, Lev Tahor involved Chatham CAS.

Resources and general approach to cases can vary between different CAS agencies. Toronto CAS is the biggest agency, and it has around 20 lawyers on staff. Smaller agencies may just contract their legal work out to a private firm. I do have some concerns that some of these smaller agencies may not have been able to handle more complicated cases that went beyond individual bad parents, and involved groups asserting religious or aboriginal rights, plus parents fleeing the jurisdiction with kids.

And the funding formula from the provincial government also recently changed. It's now based on population growth and current population. Which means an area like Hamilton (next to Brant)has had a significant decrease in it's funding despite a significant need. It wouldn't surprise me if Brant has recently had a decrease in funding.

The whole thing is tragic really.

[LainieR]

From cbc.ca/news/aboriginal/makayla-sault-girl-who-refused-chemo-for-leukemia-dies-1.2829885

Makayla Sault, the 11-year-old girl who refused chemotherapy to pursue traditional indigenous medicine and other alternative treatments, has died.

She died Monday after suffering a stroke Sunday.

The girl’s case made national headlines and ignited a debate about the validity of indigenous medicine and the rights of children to choose their own treatment.

Makayla was given a 75 per cent chance of survival when she was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in March. She underwent 11 weeks of chemotherapy at McMaster Children’s hospital in Hamilton.

Her mother, Sonya Sault, said Makayla experienced severe side-effects and at one point ended up in intensive care.

After Makayla said she had a vision of Jesus in the hospital, she wrote a letter to her doctors asking to stop treatment.

“I am writing this letter to tell you that this chemo is killing my body and I cannot take it anymore.â€

The hospital referred her case to the Brant Children’s Aid Society. After a brief investigation, it decided Makayla was not a child in need of protection and that it would not apprehend her to return her to treatment.

In an interview with CBC News in May, before the Brant Children's Aid Society closed its investigation, the director Andrew Koster said, "For us to take her away, to apprehend and place in a home with strangers, if that's the case, if there aren't any relatives, when she's very, very ill — I can't see how that would be helpful."

“I think people much more knowledgeable than ourselves need to be involved to look at what types of traditional medicines are being used, how does it fare up to some of the chemo treatments," said Koster.

In July, Makayla travelled to the Hippocrates Health Institute in Florida and took its three-week "life transformation program." On its website, Hippocrates states: "The goal of the institute is to assist people in taking responsibility for their lives and to help them internalize and actualize an existence free from premature aging, disease and needless pain."

Related precedent-setting case in Ontario court

Her death comes a few months after an Ontario judge ruled in an unprecedented case of another First Nations girl who also refused chemo.

The girl, whose identity is protected under a publication ban, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia​ in August. Doctors at McMaster Children’s Hospital gave her a 90 to 95 per cent chance of survival.

After 10 days of chemotherapy, she and her mother left McMaster to seek treatment at the Hippocrates Health Institute in Florida.

In an interview with CBC News, her mother said, “This was not a frivolous decision I made. Before I took her off chemo, I made sure that I had a comprehensive health-care plan that I was very confident that was going to achieve ridding cancer of her body before I left the hospital. This is not something I think may work, this is something I know will work.â€

Judge Gethin Edward rejected the application from the Hamilton hospital that would have seen the Children’s Aid Society intervene in this case.

:(

[gustava]

A dead 11 year old who should be alive.

[eh02]

Oh no. This is so sad. :(

It is utterly cruel that adults could even leave this decision up to a child in the first place. THAT IS WHAT ADULTS ARE FOR. To make decisions on behalf of children who are not mentally, developmentally or emotionally prepared to do it themselves.

You don't ask your child if they WANT to get their shots. You tell them they ARE going to get their shots. Because you as the adult know that it's best for them, even if you can barely stand seeing them in pain.

Weak, ignorant, stubborn parents.

"The goal of the institute is to assist people in taking responsibility for their lives and to help them internalize and actualize an existence free from premature aging, disease and needless pain."

Great plan for an 11 year old. Just tell them they need to "actualize" being healthy again. Clearly it works just fine.

[2xx1xy1JD]

Here's the public Facebook page of the local native newspaper:

www.facebook.com/tworowtimes/timeline?ref=page_internal

You can read the posts about Makayla and the other 11 year old girl with ALL. They've convinced the community that all the problems were due to the chemo, including Makayla's stroke, and that any apparent progress was due to the natural healing. How many more kids will need to die before someone stands up and dares to suggest that maybe, just maybe, the doctors actually know what they are talking about and these folks have been conned by quacks in Florida who were happy to take their hard-earned money and allow their children to die?

[LainieR]

:angry-banghead: :angry-banghead: :angry-banghead: :angry-banghead: :angry-banghead: :angry-banghead: :angry-banghead:

:pull-hair: :pull-hair: :pull-hair: :pull-hair: :pull-hair: :pull-hair: :pull-hair: :pull-hair: :pull-hair: :pull-hair: :pull-hair: :pull-hair: :pull-hair: :pull-hair: :pull-hair: :pull-hair: :pull-hair: :pull-hair: :pull-hair: :pull-hair: :pull-hair: :pull-hair: :pull-hair: :pull-hair:

Apparently I've moved on from :cry: