Boy with cancer in his jaw could be back in UK by Christmas

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/dec/21/boy-cancer-jaw-back-uk-christmas

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A missing 10-year-old boy with cancer in his jaw who needs urgent surgery has been traced to Poland and could be back in the UK by Christmas, a family court has heard.

Specialists had told Mr Justice Mostyn that the boy would die a “brutal and agonising death” within six months to a year if a tumour was not removed very soon. And concerns were raised in October when Mostyn heard that the boy, who is Polish but cannot be identified, had disappeared.

Mostyn was told there was evidence that the 10-year-old had left his home in England with his mother and that his father had boarded a ferry bound for France. The judge, who analysed the case at hearings in the family division of the high court in London, had urged the boy’s parents to cooperate with doctors.

Lawyers involved in the case told another judge at a hearing in the same court on Monday that the boy had been traced to an address in Poland.

They told Mr Justice MacDonald that the youngster was with his mother and that his father had returned to England. The judge was told that the boy’s parents had sought a second opinion in Poland.

Lawyers said the plan was for mother and son to return to England by Christmas. MacDonald heard submissions from lawyers on Monday representing the hospital, the boy’s father, and from Cafcass – a government-funded social work organisation that reviews local authority plans for children. The case is due to be re-analysed at a further family court hearing next month.

An NHS trust with responsibility for the boy’s care had asked Mostyn to rule that specialists could perform surgery. Doctors said the boy’s parents preferred to treat their son with Chinese medicine.

The judge said the couple had not engaged in court proceedings. Mostyn said he had concluded that surgery was in the boy’s best interests, notwithstanding his parents’ lack of consent.