12-Year-Old Boy Stops Cancer Treatment

Five years of surgery, chemo, and rehabilitation have convinced a 12-year-old cancer patient to halt his treatments, ABC News reports. Alex Rodriguez of Shelbyville, Tenn., chose hospice care at home with his family over going to Texas for experimental treatments. “He is a very courageous young man to have a very mature adult outlook on life," a doctor says. "It’s amazing as a 12-year old he is really able to face the opportunities and challenges that he has in his remaining time.”

One of Alex's last wishes was to visit the Coca Cola factory in Atlanta, Georgia—which he did yesterday. A businessman paid for his limo, and residents hung blue support ribbons on mail boxes and street lamps. Alex was stricken with cancer at age 7, underwent surgery and learned to walk again with metal devices in his spine. When the cancer came back, Alex chose home over hospital. “We don’t know what kind of time frame we’re in,” a minister says. According to Alex's grandmother, "He’s always happy and he doesn’t like to talk about his cancer. It makes him sad and he wants to be happy.” (More cancer stories.)