He has suffered countless seizures, undergone multiple brain surgeries and even more medications, but the answer to a 22-year-old Clifton native's prayers seemingly hinges on the controversial use of medicinal marijuana.
In 1998, Tim Dagiau's mother, Kathy, received an emergency phone call from his elementary school.
During what she called a surreal conversation, the school staff said her son had suffered a massive seizure so severe emergency personnel had reported no pulse and were forced to use a defibrillator to revive the 9-year-old.
Tim, the family learned, was an epileptic.
"I was shocked and remember thinking they've called the wrong person," she said. "He is my only child so I can't even convey what that felt like."
Kathy and her husband, Gary, a lifetime Clifton resident, are both employees of pharmaceutical companies. The couple utilized every source they collected during their years in the industry to employ the best neurologist they could find.
Over the course of the next 12 years the Dagiau family exhausted every possible option which could help alleviate the severity and frequency of Tim's seizures.
"I've been on 12 medications - all failures - which left me having countless seizures," Tim said. "When I was 17, I had brain surgery to remove part of my right temporal lobe, where the seizures were suspected to be originating, but that was simply one more failed attempt to remedy my ailment."
Two summers ago, Tim decided to attempt surgery one last time.
Doctors removed the remaining parts of his temporal lobe, which did not halt the seizures, but did leave him paralyzed on his left side. Tim spent the greater part of the 2008 summer in rehabilitation progressing from barely being able to open his left hand to picking up a glass to today, being able to juggle.
"It's hard to put into words," Gary said of witnessing the challenges his son has faced. "Tim has the courage of a lion and we are just as proud as could be of him. We just try to be supportive of whatever his medical decisions are."
In lieu of the numerous surgical procedures and medications which had failed, Tim's next move, seemingly a last resort, invoked the unconventional.
The idea of using marijuana for medical purposes did not enter Tim's mind until his senior year in high school.
An 18-year-old at the time, he recalled the immediate effect marijuana provided upon his first puff.
"I would typically recollect memories of past seizures on a constant basis throughout the day," Tim explained. "But as I inhaled, my thoughts of seizures disappeared for the first time in eight years."
Dr. Carl Bazil, a neurologist who specializes in epilepsy and has treated Tim for the last eight years, called it a "miraculous" turn of events.
"Basically there are no controlled or scientific studies showing marijuana actually helps epilepsy," Bazil said.
"However, there are indications because in Tim's case it was dramatic considering he was someone who had pretty much failed every drug out there, had unsuccessful brain surgeries to try and fix his epilepsy, but noticed that when he smoked marijuana his seizures stopped."
Because Bazil is licensed by the state of New York, he could not prescribe Tim with medical marijuana.
Following his freshman year at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wis., Tim, who plans to ultimately attend law school, decided to transfer to Colorado State University. At the time Colorado was one of 12 states in the country authorized to prescribe medicinal marijuana.
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 Magazine - Cannabis Culture News & Reviews
Source: NorthJersey.com
Author: TONY GICAS
Copyright: 2010 North Jersey Media Group
In 1998, Tim Dagiau's mother, Kathy, received an emergency phone call from his elementary school.
During what she called a surreal conversation, the school staff said her son had suffered a massive seizure so severe emergency personnel had reported no pulse and were forced to use a defibrillator to revive the 9-year-old.
Tim, the family learned, was an epileptic.
"I was shocked and remember thinking they've called the wrong person," she said. "He is my only child so I can't even convey what that felt like."
Kathy and her husband, Gary, a lifetime Clifton resident, are both employees of pharmaceutical companies. The couple utilized every source they collected during their years in the industry to employ the best neurologist they could find.
Over the course of the next 12 years the Dagiau family exhausted every possible option which could help alleviate the severity and frequency of Tim's seizures.
"I've been on 12 medications - all failures - which left me having countless seizures," Tim said. "When I was 17, I had brain surgery to remove part of my right temporal lobe, where the seizures were suspected to be originating, but that was simply one more failed attempt to remedy my ailment."
Two summers ago, Tim decided to attempt surgery one last time.
Doctors removed the remaining parts of his temporal lobe, which did not halt the seizures, but did leave him paralyzed on his left side. Tim spent the greater part of the 2008 summer in rehabilitation progressing from barely being able to open his left hand to picking up a glass to today, being able to juggle.
"It's hard to put into words," Gary said of witnessing the challenges his son has faced. "Tim has the courage of a lion and we are just as proud as could be of him. We just try to be supportive of whatever his medical decisions are."
In lieu of the numerous surgical procedures and medications which had failed, Tim's next move, seemingly a last resort, invoked the unconventional.
The idea of using marijuana for medical purposes did not enter Tim's mind until his senior year in high school.
An 18-year-old at the time, he recalled the immediate effect marijuana provided upon his first puff.
"I would typically recollect memories of past seizures on a constant basis throughout the day," Tim explained. "But as I inhaled, my thoughts of seizures disappeared for the first time in eight years."
Dr. Carl Bazil, a neurologist who specializes in epilepsy and has treated Tim for the last eight years, called it a "miraculous" turn of events.
"Basically there are no controlled or scientific studies showing marijuana actually helps epilepsy," Bazil said.
"However, there are indications because in Tim's case it was dramatic considering he was someone who had pretty much failed every drug out there, had unsuccessful brain surgeries to try and fix his epilepsy, but noticed that when he smoked marijuana his seizures stopped."
Because Bazil is licensed by the state of New York, he could not prescribe Tim with medical marijuana.
Following his freshman year at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wis., Tim, who plans to ultimately attend law school, decided to transfer to Colorado State University. At the time Colorado was one of 12 states in the country authorized to prescribe medicinal marijuana.
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 Magazine - Cannabis Culture News & Reviews
Source: NorthJersey.com
Author: TONY GICAS
Copyright: 2010 North Jersey Media Group
