By: Samantha Helmold
Medicinal marijuana is known to help cases where epilepsy is a problem. It is known to calm the disorder and make it where the seizures don’t reoccur often. In attempts to find solutions for such serious conditions, two mothers work diligently to help their children out in the best way possible.
Epilepsy is a brain disorder in which a person has repeated seizures (convulsions) over time. Seizures are episodes of disturbed brain activity that cause changes in attention or behavior.
Twins Byron and Nicolas
Shannon Moore, mother of 3½ year old twins, both suffer from a rare condition known as Miller-Dieker Syndrome, where they have upwards of 100 seizures a day, which is characterized by a pattern of abnormal brain developments known as lissencephaly, which means smooth brain, which is a rare condition that is caused from lack of development.
“I started to notice that something wasn’t exactly right when they were 4 months old.” Moore said, “Nicolas did a repetitive motion with his arm that just didn’t look normal to me. We took him down to Shady Grove Hospital where they did a cat scan of his brain and that looked abnormal and then they did an MRI and it was very abnormal. And so, they diagnosed him there. It was a very hard day.”
Because Miller-Dieker Syndrome is a genetic disorder, they went ahead and had Byron tested as well and he tested positive for the syndrome as well.
Shannon Moore started doing research on medicinal marijuana once she found out that her sons weren’t getting better while on the medication that the doctors prescribed. She found out that medicinal marijuana would greater the life expectancy of her boys and continued to look into it.
“After my children had surgery to have get feeding tubes, and they had to have this because it was robbing them of eating, I decided that I wanted to have medicinal marijuana accessible in Maryland. As of Monday, April 14, bill, HB0881, was passed.”
While Shannon Moore isn’t the only mother that has children suffering from epileptic seizures, Gail Rand, mother of 4-year old son, Logan, suffers from Doose Syndrome.
Myoclonic-Astatic Epilepsy (MAE), or Doose Syndrome, is an epilepsy syndrome of early childhood that is often resistant to medication. For this reason, it can be difficult to treat. Gail Rand, mother of Logan, was also looking to find ways to help her son with his seizures. She found out about medicinal marijuana through a Facebook group called, “Pediatric Cannabis Therapy,” and through another Facebook group called, “medical cannabis.”
“I had read that medical marijuana was working on children with epilepsy and I wanted to have my son use it,” says Rand.
Son, Logan
Rand’s son was diagnosed at the age of a 18 months and when she brought medical cannabis to her pediatrician and neurologist’s attention, they were both extremely supportive.
Shannon Moore cannot say the same, however. Her neurologist wasn’t exactly on board with the idea of Nicolas and Byron using medicinal cannabis to treat their condition. She said that her neurologist worried about what could or could not happen.
Sen., Ronald Young, is a supporter of the bill and helped Shannon get is passed and even Karen Young, Senator Young’s wife, help lobby the bill to legislature.
Joshua Sharfstein, M.D. Secretary explains that, “Marijuana contains pharmacologically active compounds, called cannabinoids, which have therapeutic value. Some of these compounds have been isolated, studied, and approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for specific indications.”
He also goes on to explain the green light approach, red light approach, and the yellow light approach to seeing the purposes of medicinal marijuana.
Sharfstein says he will continue researching the medical purposes of medicinal marijuana and which approach to take when it comes to using it.