If you have a child, then you probably agree that you would do anything to keep them safe and healthy. But would you split up your family and move across the country? Amy Lutz traveled to Colorado to meet one Gettybsurg woman who did just that, to save her daughter’s life.
Debbie Foster’s daughter Lydia was 6 years old when her epileptic seizures started. Now, 10 years later-she has anywhere from 4 to 300 a day. She says because medican marijuana isn’t legal in PA, she decided to move to Colorado with 5 of her 9 kids so that Lydia could get the treatments that could save her life.
The name of the strain of the plant that produces an oil that has been shown to stop seizures in other children with epilepsy is called Charlotte’s web. The term “medical marijuana” can be misleading, because those who use it, are not getting high.
“There is virtually no THC in the medicine that we are administering to these pediatrics.”, says Jordan Stanley. He is one of 6 brothers who owns the Stanley Grow, which farms and processes the oil. He says his organization “Realm of Caring” is treating around 150 children from all over the country, but that they get as many as 4 to 5 thousand phone calls from desperate parents every month. Dr. Margaret Gedde of Colorado Springs also treats a number of young patients with cannabis oil, and says that cannabis oil opens up a whole new way of living for them.
Lydia’s parents are still holding out hope. They’ve been giving Lydia treatments for the last 3 months, and although they’ve seen some improvements, it depends on the day. Also challenging is 6 family members living in a small one-bedroom apartment, more than 15-hundred miles away from the rest of their loved ones.
“To take a family like that and have to split it for something like medicine is almost hard to believe but you do what you have to, because the whole family is rooting for her.”, she said.