BOSTON (AP) - A man who fled painful chemotherapy treatments more than a decade ago denied Wednesday that he was with a teenage boy who's running away from them now.

Billy Joe Best said in a telephone interview he was in Boston and hadn't talked to 13-year-old Daniel Hauser and his mother since they fled New Ulm, Minn., after a court-ordered medical exam showed Daniel's Hodgkin's lymphoma had worsened.

Daniel's family belongs to a religious group that believes in natural healing methods, and he has testified he believed the chemo treatments would kill him. A District Court judge in Minnesota ruled last week Daniel's parents were neglecting him and ordered them to consult doctors.

Daniel's father, Anthony Hauser, has said he last saw his wife and son on Monday, doesn't know where they are and has made no attempt to find them.

An alert issued to police departments around the country had said the Hausers might be traveling with Best, who as a teenager in 1994 ran away from home to Houston to escape chemotherapy for cancer similar to Daniel's.

Best said Wednesday he last saw the Hausers when he was in Minnesota nearly two weeks ago for court hearings. He said he'd help them if they called him.

"I've been really upset about this case," Best said. "I don't know what to do. I want to help. I want to help them in any way, if they need a place to stay, or someone to talk to, I just want to do whatever I can for them, but I can't."

Best, who's in his early 30s, has claimed his Hodgkins lymphoma was cured by natural remedies when he was a teenager. In early May, he appeared at a news conference held by the Hausers and said he supported the family's refusal of chemotherapy, which doctors say could save Daniel's life.

Best was diagnosed with cancer in 1994 and underwent five months of treatment at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. But when doctors said they wanted him to have another round of the painful treatment, the then-16-year-old fled his Norwell home on a Greyhound bus with some clothes, his skateboard and about $300 he made selling his soccer shoes and an electric amplifier.

"The reason I left is because I could not stand going to the hospital every week," Best wrote in a note to his parents. "I feel like the medicine is killing me instead of helping me."

Best spent three weeks in Houston but returned home when his parents promised they wouldn't force him to have the chemotherapy.

Best's parents, Sue and Bill Best, of East Bridgewater, didn't immediately return phone messages from The Associated Press.

The site links to the distributor of 714X and says Best's parents operate a company called Best Enterprises, which distributes the herbal remedy, Essiac.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)