A mother who gave her dying son cannabis in a desperate final attempt to ease his cancer symptoms has spoken of how it saved her own life, as well as her child’s.
Callie Blackwell, from Watton, Norfolk gave her 17-year-old son Deryn cannabis oil after being told he had three days left to live.
After he made a remarkable recovery, the mother used cannabis herself to tackle her depression and she is now campaigning for the legalization of the drug for medicinal purposes.
Mrs Blackwell asked herself ‘what she had to lose’ as her 17-year-old son Deryn was ‘dying anyway’ of a rare form of cancer.
He was given three days to live after fighting a four-year battle with an incredibly rare one in seven billion form of cancer called Langerhans cell sarcoma.
She had already planned her son’s funeral after three bone marrow transplants proved to be unsuccessful.
Mrs Blackwell carried out research online and found that cannabis was known for treating anxiety.
So, she decided to create the cannabis tincture and, remarkably, her son made a full recovery shortly after using the drug.
She has also revealed how cannabis helped her to tackle her own depression and suicidal thoughts.
Mrs Blackwell is campaigning for the legalization of the drug for medicinal use and revealed how it saved her own life in her book The Boy In 7 Billion.
In one passage, published on the Mirror, she says: ‘Without cannabis I probably wouldn’t be alive.
In an extract, she talks about her struggles after Deryn recovered and she realized that he didn’t need her as much anymore.
She said she struggled with anxiety suffered a nervous breakdown in October 2014, a year after her son’s recovery, because she thought that someone would realize she had secretly given Deryn cannabis.
Mrs Blackwell also revealed that she had been harassed by a drug dealer and that the combination of worries had made her have suicidal thoughts.
She said that she was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder and was prescribed anti-depressants by doctors.
However, at this point the mother decided to try cannabis out for herself.
She said that smoking the drug had calmed and relaxed her, helping to tackle her depression.
Mrs Blackwell is now campaigning for the drug to be legalized for people suffering from conditions like Parkinson’s or multiple sclerosis.
She believes that the drug saved her and her son’s life and stresses that others should be allowed access to it.
