Judge clears way for teen's chemo

UPDATE: On Wednesday, September 5, 2012, Quinnahsa Henderson lost her long battle with cancer.

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WISH) - A Fort Wayne girl is fighting for her life, but she just got a little help from a judge.

Quinnahsa has an aggressive form of cancer that requires an equally aggressive approach to treatment. But this child is a ward of the state, and until today, a slow-moving bureaucratic system delayed her care.

Quinnasha is a fighter. Smart. Strong. Tough. Monday, she escaped the pain and uncertainty of fighting cancer by enjoying family fun at her favorite Fort Wayne bowling alley. And for a while she was able to forget about the cancer that stole her arm - forcing a dramatic amputation of her shoulder. It's the same cancer that now has returned to try to take her life.

"I've been fighting for my life for almost two years," the teenager said quietly.

She was in remission briefly, summoning the courage to try out for cheerleading. She made the squad -- her proudest accomplishment. But now, she's learned that the cancer has returned, ravaging both her lungs.

"The choices was not to take chemo and take pain meds and go to hospice and die, or take this pill - and they don't guarantee that it will help - but … it could slow down the cancer," she said, explaining the options doctors gave her.

For Quinnasha, the choice was easy.

"I want to have chemo. I'm ready for this fight again," she said, smiling broadly.

But her fight is not only against the cellular mutation's virulent spread, it's also a war against a bureaucratic system that she said poses as deadly a threat as the illness itself. Quinnasha is a foster child. And the state must approve much of her medical care.

Before that can happen, all parties involved -- from her case worker to her guardian to her biological mother - must agree, and that plan must be approved by a judge. It's a process that exasperates her foster mother, who loves her as fiercely as children to whom she gave birth.

"No one understands that I'm advocating for her," Paulette Nellems said tearfully.

She's said hers are tears of frustration with a process that she said doesn't move with the urgency the situation should dictate.

For example, Quinnasha was diagnosed in July with an aggressive form of osteosarcoma that doctors said needed immediate treatment. But it took more than two weeks to complete paperwork to begin chemotherapy.

And when doctors discovered the cancer had returned days before Christmas, it took a full month to get a biopsy. The next day, doctors gave Quinnasha a week to decide on treatment.

But she's not giving up. Quinnasha plans a future as an attorney, wife and mother.

"I love being around kids, and kids love me. So to be able to have kids and to have a wonderful husband, that would be great," she said with a grin.

Because Quinnasha is in foster care, her records are confidential, and Department of Child Services officials could tell us nothing about her care.

They did release this statement: "DCS does not require approvals prior to ANY medically necessary treatment for a ward. DCS does not practice medicine and relies on our partners in the medical community to care for those children who are wards of the state in an appropriate and timely manner."

On Wednesday a judge signed an order, allowing Quinnasha to have more chemotherapy treatments.

Meanwhile, Quinnasha fears she won't see her 15th birthday, so her foster mother is throwing her a big party Sunday.

A note from the journalist, Deanna Dewberry:

I must disclose that I first met Quinnasha in November 2010 in the lobby of my oncologist's office. It was my first visit with my doctor after learning I had breast cancer . Quinnasha had just had her arm amputated and was visiting her surgeon. At the time, she was a traumatized little girl who was having an emotionally difficult time adjusting to a disfiguring surgery.

Over the last year and a half, I've watched this resilient little fighter come a long way. She summoned the courage to try out for cheerleading, even when other students teased her, telling her she couldn't be a cheerleader with one arm. She made the squad, and she says the same determination that fueled her courage to face students who taunted her will be with her in this latest battle against cancer.

I learned that Quinnasha was facing a delay in getting chemotherapy when I called to check on her Monday, Feb. 13. I believed then, and still do, that the complications she faced in fighting cancer as a ward of the state merited a news story.

Because of the laws that govern the confidentiality of foster children, (specifically IC 31-33-18), the Director of DCS, James Payne, has refused an interview regarding Quinnasha's case.