Health

NEW ULM, Minn. (WCCO) ― A 13-year-old cancer patient and his mother, who fled Minnesota last week to avoid court-ordered chemotherapy returned to the state voluntarily on Monday, and the boy was examined by a doctor.

Daniel and Colleen Hauser arrived on a charter flight at 3 a.m., Brown County Sheriff Rich Hoffmann said. He did not say where the pair have been since they missed a court hearing last Tuesday, prompting a nationwide search, nor whether Daniel had received medical care for his Hodgkins' lymphoma while he and his mother were missing.

"It is a good day as Daniel and Colleen Hauser have been safely returned to Minnesota," Hoffmann said.

Hoffmann said Jennifer Keller, an attorney from Orange County, Calif., contacted the sheriff's office and the FBI Sunday to say Colleen Hauser wanted to bring her son home. Hoffmann said a charter plane was donated by Asgaard Media, a film and TV production company based in Corona, Calif.

Keller said she met the mother and son on Sunday, then notified authorities and arranged the private jet. Keller said the public outcry is misguided and criticism pointed at Colleen Hauser is unfair.

"They always expected to return," Keller told The Associated Press in a phone interview late Monday. "She's horrified people perceive her as hiding out. That isn't what she intended."

Keller said Daniel Hauser looked fine but was tired. "He was very, very eager to get home," she said.

Keller said Colleen Hauser would continue to explore treatments "that aren't toxic" to Daniel. However, she said Hauser plans to abide by what the court says.

Because Colleen Hauser returned voluntarily, Brown County Attorney James Olson said he would likely dismiss the felony complaint against her. Minneapolis FBI spokesman E.K. Wilson said the federal charge of unauthorized flight would also likely be dropped.

Daniel Hauser was evaluated at a hospital in the Twin Cities on Monday and his parents were with him, according to Tom Hagen, an attorney at the law office representing Daniel's parents.

Daniel was expected to spend Monday night at the farm. A court order placed Daniel in protective custody last week, but Olson said Brown County Family Services was comfortable allowing Daniel to stay with his parents.

Olson said a deputy was posted at the Hauser farm Monday night "just to make sure nothing bad happens."

Olson doesn't anticipate additional charges at this point, but said he hadn't seen all the police reports and he'd have to wait and see what happens at a court hearing, which will likely happen Tuesday.

"A lot depends upon the attitude of the parents, their willingness to get on board with a treatment plan," said Olson. "If they are going to continue with this, 'We don't want chemo,' ... We'll see what happens tomorrow."

A message left for Daniel's court-appointed attorney was not returned Monday.

Phone messages left with the Hausers also were not immediately returned, and two sheriff's vehicles blocked the road leading to the Hausers' home in Sleepy Eye, about 100 miles southwest of the Twin Cities.

Dr. Bruce Bostrom, the pediatric oncologist at Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota who diagnosed Daniel's cancer in January, said he was happy to hear of the boy's return.

"I'm delighted," Bostrom said. "I've been so worried that he was going to die in Mexico. I've been praying for his safe return, so I think my prayers will be answered."

Bostrom was not working Monday and didn't know if Daniel had gone to Children's Hospitals to be examined.

Hodgkin's lymphoma has a 90 percent cure rate in children if treated with chemotherapy and radiation, but doctors said Daniel was likely to die without those treatments.

Daniel underwent one round of chemotherapy in February, but stopped after that single treatment, citing religious beliefs. The family opted instead for natural healing practices inspired by American Indians.

A judge ruled that the parents medically neglected Daniel and ordered them to get him an updated chest X-ray as well as select an oncologist for a re-evaluation. After the X-ray showed a tumor in Daniel's chest has grown, the mother and son left town.

Susan Daya Hamwi, an attorney who lives in Los Angeles and who authorities initially said may have been traveling with the Hausers, said Monday that she bought plane tickets for Colleen and Daniel but they reimbursed her. The tickets cost $214 apiece, one-way. Hamwi declined further comment.

The sheriff's office released several copies of a video produced by Asgaard Media that includes about two minutes of an interview with Colleen and Daniel Hauser.

The pair are sitting on a couch in an undisclosed location, and Colleen Hauser does most of the talking. She describes what she says are the side-effects of the chemotherapy on her son, saying "he literally could not eat, he couldn't even drink." Colleen Hauser also says her son planned to run away from home by himself.

"Then what do I have? I mean, he was going to run," Hauser said. "And that just broke my heart. I can't have one of my children running away from something that they should face."

Hauser expresses optimism that her son can beat cancer, but nowhere in the video does she explain where they've been or what they've been doing since they left Sleepy Eye. At one point, an unseen woman asks Daniel Hauser what he'd say to people who claim he's not old enough to decide whether he needs chemotherapy.

"I'd tell them to back off," Daniel Hauser said.

A voice mailbox for Asgaard Media was full, and the company didn't respond to an e-mail request for comment.

The FBI said the Hausers flew to Los Angeles. Investigators suspected they might have been heading to one of a number of alternative cancer clinics in northern Mexico.

On Thursday, Anthony Hauser had appeared before reporters asking his wife to call him and to come home. "If you're out there, please bring Danny home so we can decide as a family what Danny's treatment should be," he said.

The FBI's affidavit in support of an arrest warrant for Colleen alleges she fled the state to avoid being prosecuted on two state counts of depriving another of custodial or parental rights in Brown County. The "parental rights" refer to those of Brown County family services, which was granted custody of Daniel to get him to a pediatric oncologist.

At a news conference Thursday, Hoffmann had vowed to arrange a safe return for Colleen Hauser without an enforcement action if she shows "a good faith effort to come back."

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According to Chemotherapy.com, chemotherapy is the general term for any treatment involving the use of chemical agents to stop cancer cells from growing. Chemotherapy can eliminate cancer cells at sites great distances from the original cancer. As a result, chemotherapy is considered a systemic treatment.

(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)