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Home › Relationships

Return of Daniel Hauser, 13-Year-Old Cancer Patient | 05/26/2009 9:05 am

Daniel Hauser, 13-Year-Old Hodgkin's Patient, Returns Home After Avoiding Chemo

Daniel Hauser and his mother Colleen Hauser returned home to Minnesota on Monday after fleeing to California in attempt to avoid court-ordered chemotherapy
By The Staff at wowOwow.com
Colleen and Daniel Hauser

Asgaard Media interview via StarTribune.com

The mother who fled with her 13-year-old cancer-stricken son in an attempt to avoid court-ordered chemotherapy returned to their Minnesota home on Monday.

The nationwide search of Colleen Hauser and her son Daniel began after the family skipped a court hearing last Tuesday over Daniel’s treatment for Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Daniel’s father Anthony Hauser said in a public statement last week that he did not know his wife and son planned to flee and pleaded for their return so they can discuss as a family the best treatment for Daniel.

Authorities discovered the two in California on Sunday and they flew home courtesy of a California media company, Asgaard Media, which arranged their charter flight back to Minnesota. Asgaard also snagged a video interview with Colleen and Daniel.

Click here to watch the video, posted on Minnesota’s Star Tribune website, in which Colleen explains that Daniel was fed-up with the side-effects of chemo and was going to run-away from home if he had to undergo more treatment. Daniel was diagnosed in July with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a highly treatable form of cancer. 

Daniel, who has undergone one of six rounds of chemo treatment thus far, has a very likely chance of surviving the illness and living a healthy life if he completes the treatment. As prior reports explain, the Hausers said the chemo treatment was against their religious beliefs.

Tell us: Do you think it’s just for a court to order treatment for Daniel?

 

Read more about: Anthony Hauser, Arrest Warrant, Cancer, Chemotherapy, Colleen Hauser, Daniel Hauser, Health, Hodgkins Lymphoma, Mexico, Minnesota, News, Sleepy Eye, U.S.

17 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

f p
Religious beliefs, eh? Wonder if she’s a right to lifer, yet willing to let her own die. 
By f p on 05/26/2009 9:15 am
Deena B.

She does not belong to a traditional/conventional religious group.  So the slap in the face of "right to lifers" does not apply.

By Deena B. on 05/26/2009 11:14 am
Amanda C
what do you mean? you do not need to be a part of a specific, large religious group to be an aggressive pro-life advocate.
By Amanda C on 05/26/2009 12:28 pm
Deena B.
I deduce, from other posts, that f p is not at all keen on traditional organized religion.  Nor am I for that matter.  But I don’t feel the need to insult them every chance I get either.  The average person associates "right to life" with Catholicism or another like minded religion.  And even if that is not precisely what f p meant, it is clearly a sarcastic dig at right to lifers in general.  I just don’t think that is called for in this instance. 
By Deena B. on 05/26/2009 3:34 pm
Zera Lee
Are you suggesting that no one can be a “right to lifer” unless they belong to a “traditional/conventional religious group”? That would be an admission that the whole “pro-life” movement is an effort to write religious doctrine into our secular law, as forbidden by the First Amendment.
By Zera Lee on 05/26/2009 2:34 pm
Deena B.
Not at all.  But I suspect that is what f p had in mind.
By Deena B. on 05/26/2009 3:21 pm
Chrome Toe

what do i think of the court ordering chemo for Daniel? Frankly i’m not entirely sure. On the one hand i totally get that it’s our job to protect children. from themselves and from parents who are not protective. but on the other hand the kid has been brainwashed into believing this is dangerous to him. at one point he told a judge in chambers he would kick and scream and fight if somone tried to give him chemo as he BELIEVED it would kill him. that scenario just breaks my heart. the thought of this sick kid being so incredibly frightened and being forced and fought in order to have chemo. in some states children have to sign for you to have access to their medical records when they are as old as 12 years old. so we’ve given them some rights to some things. so i’m torn…. i want him to get the treatment he needs but i’m not a proponent of government intervention in peoples choices. i’d prefer he got convinced by someone that it was necessary and chose to do it on his own.

By Chrome Toe on 05/26/2009 9:33 am
Zera Lee

To put things into perspective, here are a few things to consider:

Do we really want to leave life-and-death decisions in the hands of a frightened 13-year old?

There was a pre-teen (I think) boy who chose to have his legs amputated, with the parents support. His legs had grown in such a way that they could not straighten out. After the amputations and prosthetics, he acquired a degree of independent mobility that he never knew and could not otherwise have hoped for.

There is a woman in Wisconsin who is currently on trial for letting her daughter die of untreated diabetes - because of religious convictions.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090522/ap_on_re_us/us_prayer_death http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/45214542.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/us_news/2009/May/22/wisconsin_prayer_death_trial_goes_to_jury.html

Daniel went through one round of chemo, but the tumor has grown back to the size it was in January - negating the benefits of the first round. Right now, his chance of survival is very good if he gets the chemo. His odds of survival go down a bit each month. After a year without treatment, he would be unlikely to survive even if treatment was then started.

http://www.startribune.com/local/stpaul/45990387.html

Freedom of religion is broad, but it is not absolute.

I agree with you, Chrome, that the best resolution would be to convince him that chemo is necessary. But given that he has discovered it to be painful and he has been raised to believe that it is wrong, I do not have much hope of that.

By Zera Lee on 05/26/2009 3:47 pm
S G
I can’t judge her. As a mom myself I know you do the best you can. I am sure considering the situation she is lucky to be thinking period. I would hope she actually looked into the types of treatment , it is her sons life. If she wants pray that is fine but medicine and science are valuble tools. I also realize some medications make things worse. I feel there are too many unanswered questions .I do know whatever the descion it is a child life.
By S G on 05/26/2009 10:34 am
Beth Cornell
This cancer as stated is highly curable if treated as soon as possible. I do understand his not wanting to go through the side affects, but that doesn’t last long..
By Beth Cornell on 05/26/2009 11:58 am
Amanda C

it is so sad that he has a 95% chance of survival if he takes the treatment and his parents have convinced him that it is wrong to treat yourself.

i am also torn on this one - he is only 12, i feel that with a high rate of survival it should be forced upon him. if there was a lower rate of success, it would be an even slippier argument to try and make. but 95% survival chances is too good to pass up for a religious beleif that will kill him indefinitely if he doesnt take the reatment.

By Amanda C on 05/26/2009 12:30 pm
Laura Ward

I’ve seen family members and friends go through chemo. It’s horrible. So far, surprisingly, none of mine lived and all of mine went to M.D. Anderson in Houston (the 2nd best cancer center in the U.S., John Hopkins in Baltimore, MD is #1) except my father-in-law. My father-in-law 1984, my father 2001, Bonnie 2007, Cathy 2008, Shelly 2009…But I know that some of them must live because I’ve met people that tell me they went through it and they’re alive and fine today.

I suppose if the survival rate is supposed to be 95%, put the boy through the "torture."

My father went through it and the chemo killed him. Not the cancer.

By Laura Ward on 05/26/2009 2:16 pm
Andrea Brandon

Knowledge is power. All parents of kids with cancer should read the link below, which names and describes  ancillary drugs to prevent pain, nausea, etc. Kids adopt their parents’ perception of pain. Lucky is the child whose parent has researched ways to prevent or reduce pain and any debilitating side effects. Unfortunate is the child whose parent believes cancer treatment is a horror and not to be endured.

http://www.acor.org/ped-onc/treatment/treatmentsideeffects.html

 

By Andrea Brandon on 05/26/2009 11:51 pm