The father of a teenaged leukemia patient who fought against blood transfusions for religious reasons is upset that his wife has taken their daughter out of the country to a secret location where she’ll begin alternative treatments.

He learned Sunday that his 16-year-old dying daughter was no longer resting at her mother’s apartment.

“I called (Saturday) and my other daughter told me she was sleeping — I’m upset no one told me they were leaving,” said the father.

He cannot be named to protect the identity of his daughter, who until two weeks ago was a ward of the Alberta government.

While his daughter fought a court battle against blood transfusions with the support of her mother and two sisters, the father sided with Child Welfare and doctors to continue the transfusions as part of potentially life-saving treatment.

He has since been shunned by his family and their Jehovah’s Witness church.

“My daughter is still upset and usually hangs up in my ear,” said the man, who is now separated from his wife. “But I would have thought they’d let me know if she was leaving the country.”

He suspects his daughter and wife are in California, where they were “seriously looking at a clinic.”

The girl’s lawyer David Gnam won’t say where she is or even if she has left the country.

“The oncologist who is treating her doesn’t want any media attention and (the girl) asked me not to disclose her whereabouts,” Mr. Gnam said.

“She’s a little bit stronger but her condition remains quite guarded — she’s doing this to keep fighting rather than sit around waiting to die.”

Mr. Gnam described the treatment she will be getting as conventional cancer treatment but not chemotherapy.

She’ll undergo at least two weeks of treatments at the clinic.

Earlier this year, the girl was made a temporary ward of the province and a court ordered her to receive blood transfusions on the basis that she’s not an adult and can’t refuse them, nor can her parents on her behalf.

Two weeks ago the girl’s guardianship was returned to her parents and the transfusions were stopped when a court was told they weren’t working and that doctors believed palliative care was now the appropriate treatment.