Six-year-old cancer patient Jesse Koochin's condition is "dire" at best, his father acknowledged Sunday, but the boy doctors pronounced brain-dead last week now can move his feet.
"That was a new thing that occurred just last night," Steve Koochin told reporters at a Sunday afternoon news conference at Olympus Hills Park near Holladay. "I was elated."
Holding up two photos taken of Jesse smiling when he was an infant, Koochin appeared optimistic about his son's chances of surviving.
"That's my son right there," he said, pointing to the pictures. "That's his spirit."
Gayle Koochin, Jesse's mother, reported the same movement by her son when she rubbed his foot Saturday. She also said his cheeks were pink and he was warm to the touch.
"We have to have faith in Jesse," she said. "There are many who don't. It's up to him."
A judge granted a restraining order last week barring doctors at Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City from removing Jesse from life support and allowing his parents to take him home to their Salt Lake apartment. He remains hooked up to a ventilator to help him breathe, his father said, and his diet consists of vitamins and organic juices. Full-time nurses are caring for Jesse at night and part-time during the day.
On Sunday, Jesse's blood pressure was 90 over 57 and his pulse was 108 beats per minute, his father said.
"You can put your finger on his temple and feel every heartbeat," he said.
Jesse's medulloblastoma brain cancer was diagnosed April 19, four days after his 6th birthday. Doctors found a tangerine-size tumor. Jesse underwent radiation and
holistic therapy in Florida and Georgia as well as alternative treatments in Mexico. He was hospitalized in Utah on Sept. 15 when he had trouble breathing on his own.
Doctors determined through separate examinations by two physicians last week that Jesse was brain-dead - a conclusion his parents reject.
"He is not his brain," Steve Koochin said Sunday. "There is nobody that is just his brain."
When asked if he planned legal action against the hospital, Koochin only said, "Our focus is on Jesse."
He said the community's response to the boy's struggle has been overwhelming and that the family appreciated the support. Over the weekend, an LDS Church member visited the Koochin home and blessed Jesse. He said strangers have approached Gayle in public to hug her.
The Koochins, uncertain about their next move, hope to know more about their son's fate by the end of the week.
"Either he's going to start improving on a day-to-day basis or he's going to start deteriorating on a day-to-day basis," Koochin said.
