FOX News Contributor Pleads With Cancer-Stricken Boy and Mother to Come Home

A FOX News contributor and cancer survivor pleaded Thursday for a 13-year-old cancer patient and his mother to come home so the boy could be treated.

FOX News legal analyst Peter Johnson begged Daniel Hauser and his mother Colleen Hauser, who vanished together earlier this week to avoid forced chemotherapy, to come out of hiding and get the medical care the boy needs to survive his Hodgkin's lymphoma.

"Come home. Get the treatment," Johnson said on FOX & Friends. Johnson, at age 18, had the same kind of cancer Daniel has. "I'd love to talk to young Mr. Hauser about what he's going through in this case and to let him know that he can be cured."

Authorities believe the mother and son fled Monday after a court-ordered X-ray showed the tumor in Daniel's chest was growing.

Doctors have said the tumor will likely kill Daniel without conventional treatment, but Colleen Hauser favors the natural healing methods of an American Indian religious group known as the Nemenhah Band.

Johnson said the child can survive with the appropriate medical treatment — and he knows first-hand, after being diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma and treated 31 years ago.

"I have a compelling interest in this story. My compelling interest is that I know of an 18-year-old boy who went through this experience, who had basically the same disease and was treated with basically the same chemotherapy," Johnson said.

"He went on to become a trial lawyer, an appellate lawyer and a FOX News legal analyst," he added. "That's me. I went through this."

With chemotherapy, patients afflicted with Hodgkin's lymphoma have as high as a 90 percent survival rate. Without it, the odds are about the same that they'll die.

"Call the FOX News Channel. I'd be delighted to speak with you," Johnson said in his appeal. "I'll meet with you. I'll come with you ... You will live. The authorities will forgive you. You will be cured."

FOX FORUM: Come Home

Daniel's father, Anthony Hauser, said his wife and son left without telling him their plans, and he hadn't heard from them.

"This is for Colleen. If you’re out there, please bring Danny home safe so that we can decide as a family what Danny’s treatment should be," said Anthony Hauser said Thursday during a news conference. "I know you’re scared — and I feel you left out of fear, maybe without thinking it all the way through.”

He begged his wife to contact him, saying, "the rest of the family is worried sick about Danny — how he is and how he's going to come out."

"Let's talk about how you can come back here and we can get this worked out, which is best for Danny," the father said. "We sure can’t do the best for Danny with you both on the run. So please give me a call."

Earlier Thursday, Minnesota police issued a felony arrest warrant for Colleen Hauser.

The Brown County Sheriff's Department told reporters at a morning press conference that the warrant will ensure extradition of the pair — who have been on the run since Monday — to Minnesota.

It also gives outside law enforcement agencies the authority to arrest and detain the Hausers if they're found.

"By issuing this warrant, it doesn’t mean we are going to do anything extra," Brown County Sheriff Rich Hoffmann said. "We are doing the job we have to do. We are just hoping ... the sooner we find Daniel, the better."

The new warrant is for deprivation of parental rights. An earlier warrant for Colleen Hauser's arrest was issued Tuesday on a contempt of court charge after mother and son failed to show up for a scheduled hearing.

Brown County Attorney James Olson said the "parental rights" belong to the county family services division, which has been granted custody of Daniel to get him to a pediatric oncologist.

"If she comes back today or tomorrow, I would dismiss it," Olson said of the charges. "The reason was not to punish her."

Hoffmann said he hopes the pair is still in the U.S.

Authorities said they didn't know what can be done if the Hausers have reached Mexico.

The Hausers were last seen in southern California on Tuesday morning, and authorities have said they could already be in Mexico.

When asked if the two were in Mexico, Hoffmann said he could not comment, but that he knew Colleen and Daniel had been in California.

"This is not going to go away," he said. "We're hopeful that he's still in the country."

Hodgkin's lymphoma is a highly curable form of cancer when treated with chemo and radiation.

The teen and his parents rejected chemo after a single treatment. The boy's mother said putting toxic substances in the body violates the family's religious convictions.

Hauser said she had been treating the boy's cancer instead with herbal supplements, vitamins, ionized water and other natural alternatives — a regimen based mostly on information she found on the Internet.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.