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After 11 weeks of chemotherapy at McMaster Children’s Hospital, however, Makayla opted to eschew further treatment in favour of indigenous remedies and a stay at the Hippocrates Health Institute. The Florida-based alternative health spa claims to treat serious illnesses with lasers, colon hydrotherapy and a strict diet of raw food and wheat grass.

The decision was prompted in part by Makayla’s claim that she had seen a vision of Jesus Christ at her bedside declaring her to be cancer-free.

“I have asked my mom and dad to take me off the treatment because I don’t want to go this way any more,” Makayla said in a recorded statement last spring.

“I asked him, ‘Can you heal me,’ and he said, ‘You are already healed,’ and he held out his hands to me and I saw the holes in his hands and I knew that it was Jesus. And he told me, ‘Do not be afraid.’”

Although the decision was initially challenged by the Brant Children’s Aid Society, Makayla’s file was set aside because “we have to recognize the traditions and the community of First Nations people,” according to director Andy Koster, speaking last May.

At the time, members of local First Nations had formed the Makayla Defence Force, a “peaceful group of men, women and youth who have promised to protect the Sault family and who are ready to peacefully intervene if anyone tries to remove Makayla or her brothers from New Credit First Nation,” said family spokesperson Nahnda Garlow at the time.