Mum who tried to ban cancer son's chemotherapy vows to continue legal fight

A mother who failed in her legal bid to stop her own cancer-suffering son's radiotherapy has vowed to carry on fighting the courts.

Sally Roberts launched a High Court bid to stop her seven-year-old brain tumour son Neon from having the invasive treatment.

She said she 'absolutely' didn't want Neon to undergo chemotherapy, as it was 'barbaric and plain torture'.

Neon's father Ben - who is separated from Ms Roberts, said the youngster has completed his course of
radiotherapy as planned, but Sally insists Neon is 'causing problems, not saving his life'.

Ms Roberts said her son was feeling 'absolutely rubbish' after undergoing radiotherapy.

She told ITV's Daybreak: "He is not great, he has just had radiotherapy so he is very ill, weak, fragile, emotional."

However, Daybreak’s Dr Hilary Jones, who sat beside her during the interview, warned that without treatment he would face a 'death sentence'.

He said: "Any parent who is faced with a choice about radiotherapy in this situation, today, next week, next month, please talk to the doctors, you will be reassured."

"If this was my son, I wouldn’t hesitate to go ahead with the evidence-based treatment we currently have.

Yes, there are side-effects, they are predictable, and we know about them. But the alternative is much worse than that."

A statement released on his behalf by his lawyer said: "He (Neon) is currently having a short break from treatment but will start his chemotherapy in early April, after his birthday, as planned.

"Mr Roberts and his treating doctors are very pleased with how well Neon has reacted to the treatment and are cautiously optimistic about his long-term prognosis.

"Of course it has not been easy for him but the doctors are clear that the reaction Neon is showing to the treatment is well within their expectations and it is likely that any side effect will be temporary."

Mr Roberts went on to reveal there are times when his son is tired and needs to rest. But on other occasions "he is his usual happy and playful self", and visited the London Trocadero entertainment complex on Shaftesbury Avenue today without any ill effects.

The statement added: "The surgery itself took a lot out of Neon and he is still dealing with some of the side effects of that treatment.

"Overall, Mr Roberts has not seen a marked change in Neon or side effects beyond what the doctors expected.

"This is what he and his family always hoped for."

Ms Roberts hit the headlines when she disappeared with Neon but both were found safe and well after a judge ordered a search. She later apologised for vanishing and said that she had panicked.

In December, a High Court judge ruled that Neon could receive radiotherapy for the tumour, against the wishes of Ms Roberts whose judgment, he said, "had gone awry".

Mr Justice Bodey dismissed Ms Roberts' attempt to prevent her son having radiotherapy treatment, and expressed concern over her decision-making regarding his welfare.

Ms Roberts, who had earlier failed in a similar legal bid to prevent surgeons performing a follow-up operation on Neon, feared that radiotherapy would cause long-term harm.

Mr Justice Bodey, who had been told by doctors that Neon could die within months without radiotherapy treatment, said he sympathised with the "nightmare" confronting Ms Roberts.

But he said he was worried that she had not grasped the seriousness of Neon's situation, and that the operation she opposed was life-saving.