CBD, Charlotte Figi and Fighting for Life
When I started researching CBD, I had no idea what it really was. Was it the same thing as smoking weed? Would it get me high? Would it harm me? What is it?
I had a lot of questions and I wondered how CBD even got so popular in the first place. It wasn’t hard to find the stories CBD and its success and surprisingly, it was used on children who suffered from severe forms of epilepsy. (This story is going to be summarized but click the links throughout to find the in-depth stories.)
I was like,” Wow, if it’s used on children, it must be safe and effective, right?”.
Well, I read on and found the story of Charlotte. You may have heard of Charlotte’s Web. It’s a strain of cannabis that was developed by the Stanley Brothers who grew hemp in their home state of Colorado. Charlotte’s Web was cultivated to have less than 0.3% THC and high CBD content. At this time, CBD was relatively new in treating conditions and honestly, it still is. CBD is very misunderstood and it’s hard to figure out why it should be used or if it’s a good choice for you.
Charlotte’s Web was named after Charlotte Figi. She was a child who was normal to all medical standards when she was born, but at 3 months old, something strange happened. She had a seizure. Doctor’s chalked it up to a one-time occurrence, but it continued. To her parent’s horror, her seizures became more and more frequent and more severe. She was eventually diagnosed with Dravet Syndrome. In the beginning, she was developing normally, but at the age of 2, she began to get worse. Her seizures would last up to 30 minutes and she was declining cognitively. Her parents tried many different treatments including medications and special diets and while some would work for a while, they eventually stopped working and they were back at square one. After desperation to find something that would help their daughter, they read about medical marijuana trials that helped others that had Dravet Syndrome. The trials were done much older patients, not many of them under the age of 18. In the beginning, Charlotte’s mother was against medical marijuana for this treatment, but this was before Dravet syndrome entered their lives. As they did their research, they realized it might be an option for Charlotte. She was losing the ability to do the things that children should be able to do like walk, talk and eat normally and was having up to 300 Grand Mal seizures per week!
She was even hospitalized several times with the doctors unable to permanently treat her. Her parents were losing hope that there was anything else they could do. When they applied for Charlotte to try medical marijuana, she was denied time and time again. She was the youngest person to ever apply and no doctor wanted to take the chance on a child as there was and is still so much research to be done. With her being so young, she was still developing physically and mentally and the research on cannabis for medical use on children was still so minimal. They weren’t sure how it affects her later in life, how it may affect her development. Her parents were desperate, they were watching their child slip away and had tried everything else. Finally, they were approved by a doctor named Dr. Margaret Gedde. She met with Charlotte’s parents and was able to sign off on approving her for treatment, along with another doctor.
Charlotte’s parents were able to try cannabis for medical use and the results were amazing. She didn’t have several seizures in the first hour of use as she normally did without it. Then they kept trying it, using for another week and her seizures were stopping. At this time, marijuana was illegal and medical marijuana was thought of as an easy way to get high, but this just isn’t the case. Her parents were seeing the benefits that it was giving Charlotte so they started reaching out to people who may be able to help them and that’s where the Stanely brothers came in. They were a family owned business who cultivated cannabis for medical use and specifically cultivated it to have high levels of CBD and low levels of THC. This means that it’s users aren’t getting high from cannabis and getting the effects of the CBD in the plant.
After some time and use of CBD oil, Charlotte became a bright and happy child again and at the age of 6, she was only having around 2-3 seizures a month. This strain of CBD is now widely used and available online from their website and the Stanley brothers created a foundation called the Realm of Caring Foundation where they help those in need get the treatment they deserve through Charlotte’s Web.
CBD is definitely not a new thing, but it’s amazing how it’s becoming more and more widely accepted as a medicine, which is exactly what it is. With the ongoing research about CBD helping so many conditions, why isn’t it more widely pushed and advertised like other medications? That’s a whole other issues on its own and it has to do with the legalities of growing the plant in the first place.
Fortunately, CBD is legal in most, if not all, states and is becoming suggested as a part of health routine by doctors and practitioners for conditions like anxiety all the way to cancer.
I’ve posted a video and some links as well and I encourage you to take a look and see how it has helped so many people live their lives once again. Watch Charlotte’s story. This video may be heartbreaking, it is, but it’s so important to watch.
I didn’t want to write all the details, words don’t express it like pictures do, so please watch the video below. See how this little girls life changed from CBD.
https://www.cnn.com/2013/08/07/health/charlotte-child-medical-marijuana/index.html
https://www.cwhemp.com/
https://medium.com/@liezeboshoff/the-story-of-charlottes-web-can-it-work-for-your-child-too-ecc4382e40b7
https://www.theroc.us/
One Comment
Sara
Beautiful story, thank you for sharing it!