A Connecticut teenager who was forced by the state to undergo chemotherapy to treat her cancer is now in remission, the Associated Press reported.
The patient, identified only as Cassandra C., made headlines earlier this year when the state Supreme Court ruled she must receive chemo for Hodgkin's lymphoma after the 17-year-old refused the treatments on grounds it was harmful for her body.
Doctors previously said Cassandra had an 85 percent survival rate with chemo. Her cancer is now in remission.
"I was really happy," Cassandra told the AP about finding out. "It kind of made it a lot easier to accept everything that has gone on here."
Cassandra spoke to the AP from Connecticut Children's Medical Center in Hartford, where she has been confined for the last two months for treatment as part of being under temporary custody of the Department of Children and Families.
DCF became involved when Cassandra began missing chemo appointments after her diagnosis last September. A judge awarded DCF temporary custody of the teen, but with the full support of her mother, Cassandra fought tooth and nail with the legal system to not be forced into the drug treatments, which she considers to be toxic.
The matter was brought before the Connecticut Supreme Court. Lawyers for the patient and her mother argued she was mature enough to make her own medical decisions, also known as the "mature minor doctrine."
But the high court ruled in January Cassandra's rights were not being violated by forcing her to have chemotherapy, the AP reported.
Though she is glad the chemo seems to be working, Cassandra is unhappy about having the right to decide what's best taken away from her.
"I'm still never going to be completely happy with how this happened, having this treatment forced upon me...It's my body," she told the AP.
Cassandra is expected to complete chemo in April. But she hopes to be released from DCF custody so she can complete the treatments at home, a decision to be made at a Juvenile Court hearing next week.
Had it been up to her, Cassandra said she would have explored alternative cancer treatments. She is convinced they would have had the same effect.
However, "knowing now that the chemo wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, I probably wouldn't fight so hard against it."
