A local family at the center of a medical custody battle is fighting to get their son back.
Joshua McAdams and Taylor Bland-Ball left Hillsborough County on Monday with their 3-year-old son, sparking a multi-state search. The three were eventually found safe in Kentucky.
Authorities put out urgent alerts for 3-year-old Noah, saying the boy was in need of “lifesaving medical care.” Hillsborough County deputies said McAdams and Bland-Ball failed to bring him to a medically-necessary hospital procedure last week and refused to follow up with additional lifesaving medical care.
The couple tells News Channel 8 they were avoiding getting the boy chemotherapy. Noah has leukemia and his parents wanted to treat him with something other than what doctors recommended. They told us the chemo would be too tough on Noah’s body.
“Since he’s been with us, his health has completely gotten back to normal levels,” McAdams said.
In court Wednesday, Noah’s parents asked for custody of the boy. But the sheriff’s office and guardian ad litem program says they don’t want the media there due to health and age concerns.
Noah’s parents don’t mind.
“We feel like it’s silly. Why postpone it – what’s there to hide?” Bland-Ball said. “Everything has already been talked about. It’s all over media, all over TV all over social media.”
The couple tells us they’re not opposed to treatment, they just want to do it differently. Social media posts show they previously spoke out against the use of chemo. Bland-Ball credited her son’s improved health to vitamins and alternative treatments.
“We want him to be treated with something that has less side effects,” Bland-Ball. “Chemotherapy is so brutal on a body.”
The judge postponed Wednesday’s custody hearing to Friday at 1:30 p.m. but later bumped it up to Thursday.