Parents want to regain custody of 4-year-old son with cancer after stopping his chemo
A couple from Florida is fighting to regain custody of their son after they chose alternative methods to treat his cancer.
Noah McAdams was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia earlier this year. The 4-year-old's parents, Joshua McAdams and Taylor Bland-Ball, stopped chemotherapy two days into treatment.
Instead, McAdams and Bland-Ball turned to medical marijuana and CBD oil -- the increasingly popular cannabis extract that's sold over the counter.
"He had vicious mood swings, making him violent, making him very emotional, and he also started to lose his hair right away after the first treatment," Bland-Ball said of her son in an interview with "Good Morning America."
McAdams and Bland-Ball took Noah to Kentucky where they sought a second opinion. The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office had asked for the public's help to locate the family after McAdams and Bland-Ball failed to bring Noah to the hospital for a medically necessary procedure on April 22.
"The parents have further refused to follow up with the life saving medical care the child needs," the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office wrote on Facebook. "The parents have possible criminal child neglect charges pending."
The parents were found one week later and the state of Florida placed Noah in the custody of his grandparents, who were ordered in May to resume chemotherapy.
An official with the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office told "GMA" that the office would not comment on an active case.
Now, McAdams and Bland-Ball are back in court fighting to get their son back.
"This is not about whether we're choosing alternative therapies, natural therapies. This is about our rights to seek other options," Bland-Ball said.
"They're saying that this child is in immediate danger when the fact that there is no cancer showing in his blood and there is no indication that at any point in time, that any cancer is going to come back in his body," Michael Minardi, McAdams' and Bland-Ball's former attorney, told "GMA" in May following the judge's ruling for Noah to resume chemo.
Dr. Bijal D. Shah, head of the Moffitt Cancer Center's acute lymphoblastic leukemia program, said blood tests don't show the full picture.
"We have no way of saying that he is cured of leukemia this early in therapy," Shah, who is not treating Noah, told "GMA." "We cannot assume cure because we see remission."
Shah said the current protocol for treating acute lymphoblastic leukemia has a 90 percent cure rate for patients who follow the treatment plan.
St. Jude’s Children's Research Hospital confirmed this statistic for "GMA."
Julie Cantor, M.D., and a faculty member at UCLA, said this case is different because Noah is actually ill.
"He has an identifiable disease and he has a treatment that according to the evidence, has a very high rate of success," Cantor told "GMA."
Noah is now receiving both chemotherapy and CBD for treatment.
His parents' trial is expected to end Monday.
