Ken, Erin, Jacob and Caleb Stieler with attorney, Michael FarrisWord got to me late Tuesday night from Jacob's Aunt Rachel that the Stielers would be in Grand Rapids for their court hearing the next day. I threw it up on Facebook but wasn't hopeful that too many could join us in the courtroom at the last minute like that. Thank you to those who did show up, my sweet reader friends, I appreciate you so much! (I'm sorry I only had time for a quick hi — my friend, Meg, had left with the kids and I had to find them so I wasn't sticking her with keeping track of them by herself for too long. Please comment below or email me and tell me again who you are!)
In case you're not familiar with this story, here are all of the previous posts to bring you up to date:
- Part 1 – Shocking Details on the Horrific Case Against Jacob Stieler’s Parents
- Part 2 – Shocking Details on the Horrific Case Against Jacob Stieler’s Parents
- Do we have the right to deny harmful medical treatment for our kids?
- The grim truth about America’s so-called war on cancer
- New update on the Stieler family & 4 ways to help protect parental rights
- Merry Christmas to the Stieler family!
- They've called out the dogs again…
- If you’re reading this later, click here and scroll down to start at the beginning for all the posts on Jacob Stieler’s case, including current updates.
- Click here for all my parental rights posts in one place.
What happened in court yesterday:
Attorney Michael Farris, who normally represents parental rights issues for homeschooling families, flew into Grand Rapids to present the Stieler case at the Michigan Court of Appeals on Wednesday. The three judges on the panel heard arguments on whether the state can force Jacob Stieler to receive additional cancer treatments, even though his parents have decided against another round of the harmful drugs, since his PET scans have repeatedly shown him to be cancer-free.
Farris asked the judges more than once to apply a ‘healthy dose of common sense' to this case.
At one point he said that if the Court decides against the Stielers, “Then they will be creating a dangerous law, one that says doctors are always right, and that parents can never question a doctor's advice.”
What a scary world that would be.
“There is no question that the decision of whether to treat Jacob with more chemotherapy and radiation is one of the most difficult decisions that any adult can be required to make,” Farris states. “Because of the lack of evidence that Jacob currently has any cancer in his body, however, that difficult decision rests solely with his parents, and not the state.” Michael Farris in MLive
Jacob's Aunt Liz speaks out:
Erin Steiler's sister, Liz Endsley of Hastings, said the battle has been emotionally difficult for her sister and brother-in-law.
“And this child lives in fear of someone taking him from his family,” she said. “The state is not doing what's best for Jacob.
“This is about money and power,” she said.
“For almost a year-and-a-half, our family has been going through this,” Endsley said, frustrated at the slow legal process. From MLive
Too bad we were there for a case that should've been dropped months ago, because besides that, it was great to finally meet Jacob and his family! He even gave me a little hug!
Here's a short video where I spoke with Jacob, his Mom, Erin, and his Aunts, Rachel and Liz for a few minutes – what a great family!
More you might like:
- Full story on MLive (note that these stories generally don't stay up forever)
- More photos from MLive
- Share your support on the Hope for Jacob Facebook page!
Sally_Oh says
It’s here: https://www.fffky.org/the-kentucky-farm-food-freedom-pledge/
Thank you for the encouragement, Beth! That means a lot. And thanks, Kelly, for letting us how a chat on your page!!!
KitchenKop says
Anytime, I love you all and you’re always welcome here. 🙂
Kel
Beth says
Sally, just perused your website — the FFFKY organization is amazing, and your website is beautifully and effectively designed. Great work!
Could you point me to the “pledge” you mentioned? I couldn’t seem to find it.
And as for feeling like you’re spinning your wheels while legislators respond only to big donors, please keep up the momentum and good work because it does take time to effect a paradigm shift. Legislators need repeat messages, that’s for sure. Influencing legislators, passing good bills and blocking or amending bad ones takes time. Keep it up.
Sally_Oh says
Since I’m not a CO resident, I can’t participate. Good luck with it! In KY, another thing we are doing is putting new legislators in office. We are vetting them with regards to Farm Food Freedom (www.fffky.org, see the pledge) which is my main cause (today, lol), than working to get them in office.
Surprise, surprise: last session we discovered that the only thing all our phone calls did was make us feel like we were doing something. Our legislators ignored us and did what their campaign contributors told them to do. Shocker. Old story, rude awakening for us novice activists.
Beth says
Thanks, Sally. Info on this bill in Colorado and what you can do to take action is posted on the right side of Canary Party website in the section called “The Five Minute Activist”. https://www.canaryparty.org/
Sally_Oh says
I visited the Canary Party website and was dismayed to see that CO is thinking of creating a baby sister “CPS” to do more of its dirty work for federal dollars. Hope you all can stop that in its tracks. CPS is a very dangerous organization. The fact that in CO they want to create a baby organization should terrify all Coloradans.
We’d do well to remind our representatives that parenting is OUR job and NOT the proper role of government.
In Kentucky, we are looking up stats on how many children die or are injured in gov care (hard to come by, oddly enough — they don’t keep good records on their failures) and have those handy.
How many children are taken from their families and not given back despite no charges and/or acquittal? Those are important numbers to hammer home to anyone who will listen.
I am so grateful my children are grown. Now they just get to worry about a draft…
Beth says
I encourage anyone reading this story to get involved in the Canary Party (www.canaryparty.org), whose mission is this:
The Canary Party is a movement created to stand up for the victims of medical injury, environmental toxins and industrial foods by restoring balance to our free and civil society and empowering consumers to make health and nutrition decisions that promote wellness.
They fully support and fight for parental rights. To my understanding, it’s not a political party per se with candidates, etc., but their aim is to influence policy change.
Thanks for posting about this incredibly important issue, Kelly.
Jeanmarie says
The video doesn’t show up for me, just a non-linked blank black space… sigh. But thanks for the update. I’m eager to hear how the judges rule on this. This has become a pivotal case, one way or the other.
Kelly says
Hi Jeanmarie, can you try another browser?
kathy says
Dr. Nic Gonzalez, https://www.dr-gonzalez.com/index.htm, is a cancer MD who works with Weston A. Price. He went to Cornell Medschool and would put the boy on a ‘cancer program’ w/o chemo. Who is to say which doctor is right in their ‘treatment program?’
Rachel B. (Jacob's Aunt) says
Excellent job, Kelly! It was such a pleasure meeting you the other day! Thank you so much for coming and supporting my family–we are so thankful to have you in our lives!
Amy says
I can only imagine how awful this must be for the family. So unbelievable. I would also like to know how to avoid getting into this sort of situation. If your child is diagnosed with cancer, are there steps to take to avoid having the medical cops on you (i.e., lying to the primary care doctor about seeking treatment somewhere, even though I don’t like lying)? There must be ways to somehow seek alternative care for a child. What if you declare yourself a Christian Scientist? Are there any ways to avoid detection? What a horrific state of affairs. It is a very bad precedent to take medical rights away from parents.
I guess this is probably a good reason to have a holistic and understanding doctor to begin with, as they are probably less likely to do this sort of thing!
Allie says
the word “by” was when I was started to say, by the time…. that’s what get happens when you post before editing! Sorry.
Allie says
This is such a disturbing story. Thank you for letting us know about it. I’ve been to your blog many times but this is the first time I’ve heard about it.
The same thing happened to a family in my homeschool group back in Texas. (my husband was transferred so we no longer live there). The family was hit with the difficult news of their child having cancer. When they were undecided on which route they wanted to take, and wanted to take a bit of time to research on their own, their dr. actually grew angry and started yelling at them.
She called in CPS and by it was a big ordeal. The parents ended up putting her in MD Anderson for treatment but CPS still showed up in their sick daughters hospital room to question her about all sorts of things. This is a godly loving family. She was one of eight kids and despite them protesting that this is a medical neglect case, the CPS worker kept telling them, “it’s the law”. They questioned all 8 of their kids on whether their Dad sexually abused them or not. The little girl went thru a year of cancer treatments as MD Anderson and from all the updates we recieved it was nothing short of hell. Then she died.
There is no way I would even undergo chemo therapy or radiation, which many times ends in death…why should we be forced to put our kids thru this???
I’m thankful Michael Farris flew in to help this family. Thank God for him and HSLDA!
But even this statement troubles me:
Farris states. “Because of the lack of evidence that Jacob currently has any cancer in his body, however, that difficult decision rests solely with his parents, and not the state.”
What if we as parents are in this situation some day and choose not to allow any chemo ever to be given to our sick child based on research that we’ve done? In other words Michael Farris says based on the lack of evidence that Jacop has any cancer in his body. Well what if our child did have cancer would the state still be able to impose their will on us and force our kids to get chemo? Would they be taken away from us?
I would take my child to an alternative cancer treatment centers rather then go the route of chemo which all to often kills them.
Mark Steyn is right, this is not a soft tyranny we are living in, it’s pretty hard.
Sean Hannity had a teenager on his program years ago that was going thru this same thing. The courts were threatening to take him away unless the parents didn’t give him this foreced chemo treatment.
ps. I love your blog Kelly, this is the first time I’ve commented. Thank you for bringing this awful situation to our attention. Praying these judges rule in favor of Jacob not having to get these harmful treatments done to him.
Kate @ Modern Alternative Mama says
Keep us updated. I would like to know what the final decision is. Michael Farris is right — we cannot create a climate whether doctors are “always right” and patients must bend to their will. We need to retain our personal liberties!
Rachel B. (Jacob's Aunt) says
Kate, I’m actually a fan of your page (I ordered one of your cookbooks last week and can’t wait to get it in the mail!). I have updates on my page as they come and try to keep the Hope for Jacob page current! Thank you for your support–I’m a big fan! 🙂
Liz says
I’m sorry I couldn’t be there yesterday. When I read you FB post in the morning it was too late to rearrange my day. I would have had to bring my daughter with me and it felt like more than I could explain to her. Kelly, thanks for reporting on this case and keeping us in the loop.
Sally_Oh says
Ditto: thank you so much for reporting on this case! It’s extremely important and I will share EVERYWHERE. A bad ruling here would set a very dangerous precedent and we must be vigilant about pushing back. Being forced to undergo a medical treatment would be a huge win for Big Pharma and insurance companies, not for families, and certainly not for Jacob! It’s a disgusting sideshow.
Ann Marie @ CHEESESLAVE says
Kelly you are so AWESOME!
Thank you so much for keeping us updated on this case!
LOVED the video!