A three-year-old child with leukemia became the focus of controversy when a judge ruled that they must continue with chemotherapy. The ruling came after his parents pulled him out of treatment and fled the state.

Noah McAdams is the child at the center of the controversy. The leukemia diagnosis came in April and chemotherapy began at John Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida. His parents, Joshua McAdams (27) and Taylor Bland-Ball (22) claimed that the treatment made their son violent and caused severe mood swings.

After 10 days of treatment, his mother said that there were no signs of the cancer cells and they were permitted to leave the hospital. McAdams was looking for a second opinion associated with natural treatment options, but she said John Hopkins did not like that option.

Bland-Ball gave an interview saying that she wants to oppose the ruling:

“We left and we went up to Kentucky. … We just wanted the time to get our second opinion … This is not about whether we’re choosing natural therapies, alternative therapies. This is about our rights as parents to seek other options … I think it’s really important that people know that there are other options other than chemotherapy, and I think this really opened up a good discussion on parental rights, about patient rights.”

Michael Minardi is the family attorney and he said that the parents want to treat Noah with CBD oil, vitamins, diet, and medical marijuana. He said: “While we were disappointed he has to start chemotherapy tomorrow, we are encouraged the judge gives him an opportunity to use additional treatments to treat him, to not only help him have less side effects from the chemotherapy [but to] help kill the cancer.”

The ruling by the judge is that Noah has to complete another month of chemotherapy. After that round of chemo, he will be reevaluated by the doctors to see if he still has cancer. In the meantime, his parents are not restricted from using natural treatments, including medical marijuana.