Medical Cannabis Stopped a Child's Severe Seizures
Reported by CNN News in 2013
Charlotte Figi, an American girl who inspired a CBD movement. At 3 months old, she had her first seizure. At age 5, she was having up to 300 seizures a week, about one every 30 minutes. Due to her Epilepsy, she had to be in a wheelchair, used a feeding tube because she could not swallow and had trouble to speak. On several occasions, she was resuscitated after her heart stopped.
The family tried dozens of medications but they did not work.
Charlotte's mother researched CBD for her daughter's treatment. In 2012, Charlotte began taking CBD oil, and experienced an immediate reduction in her epileptic seizures. “She did not have any seizures for seven days after starting the treatment.” her mother said, “Seizures were reduced down from 300 a week to about one per month. She started talking, making eye contact, walking, and we removed her feeding tube.”
News of Figi’s success spread and other families with epileptic patients started moving to Colorado, where the drug was originally sold. In 2013, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a neurosurgeon and the chief medical correspondent on CNN, interviewed Charlotte for his CNN documentary special, and later advocated the use of CBD to treat epilepsy.
Charlotte's story was shared by hundreds of thousands. It built communities, built hope, and then directly helped support U.S. legislation on medical cannabis.
IIn 2018, the Food and Drug Administration approved a CBD medication, Epidiolex, to treat the seizures. It was the first drug to be approved by the F.D.A. for the condition.
https://edition.cnn.com/2013/08/07/health/charlotte-child-medical-marijuana/index.html
autism
Medical marijuana and autism: 'I'm getting my boy back,' mom says
A real story reported by CNN in 2021
Ezra, an American boy, was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder at his 2 years old.
Joann Fouquette, Ezra’s mother, tried everything she could think of to help her son, but had concerns on psychotropic drugs because of the many side effects when Ezra was getting more and more violent.
When Ezra was 9, Joann decided to try medical cannabis treatment for her son.
Ezra was mostly nonverbal going into the trial. But in the first few weeks, something remarkable happened. Ezra was singing an entire song, which never happened before.
"I'm able to communicate with him. He's talking to me. He's happy. He's not aggressive anymore. He's singing," Joann said.
"I'm getting my boy back," she said, with tears.
After one year when Ezra finished the study, he has not shown any aggression and has continued to communicate. Joann is so grateful.
"It gave him an ability to speak, to communicate more." she said. "It made it easier for him to live, and to be himself."
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/12/19/health/autism-medical-marijuana-cbd-weed-documentary/index.html
With Medical Cannabis, Our Daughter Is Surviving
- by Casey Johnson, Mother to Elyse.
In 2016, our daughter Elyse, at her 2 years old, was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive brain tumor called Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG).
This evil disease has 5-year survival rate is less than 1%. Most affected children pass away within 3-9 months from diagnosis. The symptoms include lack of facial control, balance problem, droopy eyelids, headaches, vomiting and seizures. Within the first six months from diagnosis, Elyse had already lost the ability to talk, walk and eat with the sheer aggressiveness of the tumor growth, but even with all of these symptoms, she is still fully aware and mentally there.
Initially, our daughter lived with the sole treatment being radiation. We decided against radiation as it only takes the symptoms away for a limited amount of time and the tumor begins to grow again within months.
With no radiation treatment, the oncologist gave her a shorter survival time frame of just 3 months from diagnosis.
Start a New Treatment of Medical Cannabis
We started researching and following other stories overseas, and came across medicinal cannabis. With application, at that time, Elyse became the youngest girl in our country to be given approval for medical cannabis treatment for a tumor.
Just before new treatment she was going downhill fast, we even celebrated her 3rd birthday early. However, with starting the use of cannabis oil, all of a sudden she seemed to improve more and more.
Over these years, her most recent three MRI scans in a row has shown a reduction of the tumor. The doctors are stunned and have told us to “keep doing what we’re doing”. “I don’t think this has ever happened before without radiation…they don’t just shrink by themselves”.
Medical Cannabis is a Real Medicine
With virtually 0 chance of survival, we have resolved to log the progression of disease against alternative treatments, with hope in recent scans as the tumor shrank.
Everyone around us and following her on social media can see how much she is improving. This is a medicine that treats the problem and doesn’t just mask the symptoms. Her pediatrician has even moved her to a regular patient list and doesn’t feel she needs to have regular check-ups because of how well she is doing. Our fight is not over yet. Elyse still has a long way to go and she is still classed as terminally ill because of her Diagnosis – DIPG, we are focusing on her needs while she shows so much improvement.
We know this medicine is working!
Now, in 2022, we just celebrated her 8th birthday.