ACCOMAC, Va. — A 16-year-old cancer patient’s legal fight ended in victory yesterday when his family’s attorneys and social services officials reached an agreement that would allow him to forgo chemotherapy. At the start of what was scheduled to be a two-day hearing, Accomack County Circuit Judge Glen Tyler announced both sides had reached a consent decree, which the judge approved.

Under the decree, Starchild Abraham Cherrix, who is battling Hodgkin’s disease, will be treated by an oncologist of his choice who is board-certified in radiation therapy and interested in alternative treatments.The family must provide the court updates on Abraham’s treatment and condition every three months until he is cured or turns 18.

“It’s all over. It’s everything we fought for. Everything we wanted to ever have, we’ve won. We got our freedom back,” Abraham said outside the courthouse after the hearing. Judge Tyler emphasized that the decree states that the parents were not medically neglectful.

Abraham said he saw the doctor last week and that the doctor assured him that his cancer is curable. The teenager said he will continue following an alternative herbal treatment called the Hoxsey method as well as his doctor’s treatment plan. The regimen will not include chemotherapy, but radiation is a possibility, he said.

Last summer, the teenager was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease, a cancer of the lymphatic system considered very treatable in its early stages.He was so debilitated by three months of chemotherapy that he declined a second, more intensive round that doctors recommended early this year. He since has been using the Hoxsey method, the sale of which was banned in this country in 1960.

After Abraham chose to go on the sugar-free, organic diet and take liquid herbal supplements under the supervision of a Mexican clinic, a social worker asked a juvenile court judge to intervene to protect his health. Last month, the judge found Abraham’s parents neglectful and ordered Abraham to report to a hospital for treatment.

Lawyers for the family appealed, and an Accomack County Circuit Court judge suspended that order and scheduled a new trial to settle the dispute.

According to the American Cancer Society, no scientific evidence exists that Hoxsey is effective in treating cancer in people. The herbal treatment is illegal in this country but can be obtained through clinics in Mexico.