Parents Hide Son to Avoid Chemo

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Misty L. Trepke

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Parents Hide Son to Avoid Chemo

 

(August 29) - A 12-year-old boy remains in hiding with his mother

while authorities in Utah battle to have him returned to undergo

court-ordered chemotherapy to treat what they say is deadly bone

cancer.

 

Daren and Barbara Jensen fled Utah with their son, Parker, on Aug.

8, after the state ordered that the cancer-stricken boy be placed in

state custody so that he can receive chemotherapy.

 

On Aug. 15, Utah prosecutors filed kidnapping charges against the

couple. Daren Jensen was arrested Aug. 16 in Idaho, where he is now

fighting extradition to Utah. The whereabouts of Parker and his

mother are unknown.

 

The story began three months ago, when Parker was diagnosed with

Ewing's sarcoma, a deadly form of bone cancer. Doctors at Primary

Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City said Parker needs

chemotherapy, and that he has only a 5 percent chance of survival

without it. A Salt Lake City court agreed, and ordered the parents

to have the boy undergo the treatment.

 

But the boy's family disagreed. They question the accuracy of the

test that led to his cancer diagnosis, said Parker's uncle, Tracy

Jensen.

 

" Ewing's sarcoma normally appears in the bone, but Parker's was a

tumor in the mouth, " Jensen said. " The hospital wanted chemotherapy

right away. But we wanted a second opinion. They wouldn't let us get

one, and before you knew it, my brother and his family were on the

run. "

 

Rick Jaffe, the family lawyer, contends that life-and-death

decisions, such as whether to undergo chemotherapy, should be made

by a child's parents, not the state. The parents did allow Parker to

undergo surgery to have the tumor removed, but they do not believe

he needs chemotherapy at this point.

 

" There is no scientific evidence whatsoever that you need

chemotherapy for this particular kind of basically mild cancer, "

Jaffe said. " All the evidence really relates to this full-blown bone

involvement where you have very sick kids. "

 

He said that the hospital and the state have interfered with the

parents getting an objective second opinion to see if their belief

that Parker has the mild form of the cancer is confirmed.

 

" They have the best intentions for Parker and want to figure out the

exact treatment for this, " Tracy Jensen said. " They want to sit down

in an environment where they can talk about this. This is a very

rare form of Ewing's sarcoma, which has manifested itself in the

soft tissue in the mouth and they say it's a bone disease. "

 

The Jensens have located a pediatric oncologist who will treat and

evaluate Parker, Jaffe said.

 

" The problem is, we can't bring him to him, because as soon as we

show up, the mother will be arrested and the child hauled off by

force to Utah, " the lawyer said.

 

He also said Parker appears healthy.

 

" I'm not a doctor, but he looks healthy. He looks normal, " Jaffe

said. " He doesn't look sick and he doesn't look like any cancer

patient I have ever seen. He looks like a great normal kid with a

normal energy level for a 12-year-old boy. "

 

State Says It Wants to Protect Parker

 

The Utah Attorney General's Office says it is concerned about

Parker's welfare, and that the state has every right to step in to

protect a child.

 

 

" We are very concerned with the health of this young boy and the

surrounding issues of state power vs. parental responsibility, " the

office said in a statement. " Parents have a natural and fundamental

right to direct the medical care of their child †" but if in making

that decision they place the child's very life in substantial

danger, the Supreme Court has determined that the State has

an obligation to step in. In other words, a child has a fundamental

right, independent of a parent's wishes, to live. "

 

 

Tracy Jensen says the family fears that Parker will only get worse,

and may even die, if he is subjected to chemotherapy.

 

 

" Chemotherapy is a horrible and painful thing to deal with,

especially for a child, " he said. " It may also leave him sterile and

stunt his growth. We want other options. And we fear it will take

him to the brink of death, and we don't want that, especially when

there is no evidence that his cancer is what the doctors say it is. "

 

 

Parents Barred From Hospital

 

The legal charges against the parents have complicated the issue,

Jaffe said. If his mother tries to bring Parker to any hospital, she

will be arrested, he said.

 

" They [the parents] are fugitives from the law and they will be

handcuffed, and Parker will be taken back to Utah and undergo

chemotherapy, " Jaffe said.

 

The family would like Parker to take genetic and blood tests, Tracy

Jensen said. They do not want to rush and have chemotherapy if there

is no evidence the cancer is still there.

 

Jaffe says the best solution for everyone would be for the police to

drop the charges and allow the family to return to Utah so that

Parker could undergo other tests at another hospital.