Abraham Cherrix: The Ballad of Abraham

Down in Chincoteague, Virginia a teenager brave and strong / He loves to paddle the water and study all the stars / His parents run a local business, kayaking, the waters around the land / They homeschool their five children, the oldest is Abraham

Now Abraham is fifteen years old, he’s lean and he is tall / He helps his dad with the kayak tours, all the tourists, they know him well / He studies the ecology and the environment around his home / He helps raise his brothers and sisters, they all love him so

Now some might call it paradise, the island where he lives / Living so close to nature has made him a unique kid / It was a heartbreak to the family when the doctor had to tell / Of the cancer in his body, but Abraham, he took it well

He resigned himself to chemotherapy and the weaker he became / He never lost his smile, he said, “I’ll be healthy again” / For over a year he struggled, he had health and love and hope / But the treatment wasn’t working, more chemo, he’d have to cope

Then the parents, they did a lot of research, as many families do / They decided with their son that maybe chemo wasn’t the cure / Abraham said the chemo was killing his body, and so / He said he’d have no more of it, a natural cure became his goal

So they went to California and down to Mexico / They found a cancer clinic they believed reliable / The family they were satisfied with the treatment that was prescribed / A natural alternative method, Abraham said, “I will survive”

Then someone informed the authorities and they called it child abuse / The judge ordered tests for more chemo and he said there’s no excuse / Your parents will lose custody the law you must obey / Abraham went to the hospital, refused the tests, he said, “No way”

Now the fight is just beginning, what will the judge decide? / Take Abraham away from his family, the loved ones in his life? / The doctors say either way his chances are not good / His life is the hands of God, this, Abraham understood

How can they force the chemo on a young man who will refuse? / How can they force a family which method is best to choose? / How can they take Abraham from the family that he loves? / Do you think that this will help him? The doctor said, “Not very much”

Abraham’s father has a message to the families of our land / He said, “I am a combat veteran, I fought in Vietnam?” / “But this is the worst thing that I’ve ever been through” / “Go tell you children you love them and pray this never happens to you”