Jacob Redmond
Well-Known Member
Penelope McCall was a happy, healthy little girl when she was born.
She was a bit of a miracle baby, conceived after her parents, Ellen and Andy McCall, used in vitro fertilization. Ellen had to have her fallopian tubes removed after experiencing ectopic pregnancies, when a fertilized egg does not move to the womb and instead stays in the fallopian tube.
Everything seemed to be going well for the Greeneville family during the first three months.
But then Penelope began having seizures. And at four months old, she began having leg twitches.
"You kind of just see that and you're like, 'that's not normal,'" Ellen said. "I started researching it ... and while we were waiting on the appointment with the neurologist, that's when one day she started having the spasms where her arms flail out and her eyes roll back."
Penelope began having clusters of seizures, where she would spasm for a few seconds, then be calm, then spasm again. The clusters would sometimes last up to two minutes. A neurologist diagnosed Penelope with infantile spasms.
Infantile spasms are a specific type of seizure, occurring within the first year of life, seen in an epilepsy syndrome of infancy, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Some infants can have dozens of clusters and several hundred spasms per day.
There are medicines that help treat the seizures, but serious side effects can occur, according to NINDS. Penelope uses medicine but Ellen said she has regressed in her development since beginning the medications
"It almost feels like you don't have a bond with your baby because she doesn't respond to you," Ellen said. "Most parents can make their baby giggle and laugh. She doesn't do that."
This has led Ellen to advocate at the Tennessee Legislature for the legalization of cannabis oil, or CBD oil, as a treatment. She learned about the treatment through another family in Greeneville, the Mathes family, whose child also suffers with seizures.
Cannabis oil is a derivative of marijuana, but contains *edit* typically less than 5 percent* of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, which is the ingredient that gets users high.
"Since it has such low THC, they're not getting a high from it," she said. "You could drink a whole bottle of oil and still not get a high from it. So you're not making your children high."
A bill was introduced in the Tennessee House by Rep. Jeremy Faison, R-Cosby, in early February that would allow people to possess CBD oil under certain circumstances. The bill would redefine marijuana by removing the requirement that cannabis oil containing cannabidiol and less than nine-tenths of 1 percent of TCH be transferred, dispensed, possessed or administered as part of a clinical research study to be legal possession.
"God put this plant on earth for us to use," Faison said. "I see it as a very good thing and I think we'll get it passed in Tennessee."
Faison admits he had stigmatized the plant as well. But when he met the Mathes family and held their daughter, Josie, in his arms, he began to change his mind, he said.
After talking with the family, who had done hours of research on the subject, Faison began to think, "We're crazy in Tennessee for not allowing this." So he filed the bill and he immediately received calls from Johnson City to Memphis thanking him and showing their support.
The bill went before the Criminal Justice subcommittee in the Tennessee House on Feb. 19. Ellen and Penelope drove to Nashville to advocate for it. Action was deferred until March 10 so more information on the oil can be obtained.
Faison said all the members of the subcommittee had questions. He also said that all the representatives have grown up demonizing marijuana so he has a lot of work ahead of him to teach his fellow politicians about the benefits of marijuana.
This is not the first time Tennessee has waded into the cannabis oil debate.
In 2014, the Tennessee legislature and Gov. Bill Haslam approved a four-year study of the use of cannabis oil in treating intractable seizures. The state commissioned Tennessee Tech to grow marijuana, process it into oil and dispense it within limitations set by the law.
In order for medical providers to be able to dispense cannabis oil, they needed to be a part of a medical study, but the law is limited and doesn't allow any doctor to prescribe oil to any patient across the state.
Faison's bill hopes to change that, making oil immediately available to patients.
Legalizing cannabis oil has picked up steam in recent days across the country.
Last Thursday, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed a bill legalizing use of the oil into law. Missouri legalized its use and sale in February and the Georgia House of Representatives approved a bill to legalize cannabis oil by a 158-2 vote.
Faison and Ellen both hope the Virginia ruling puts pressure on legislators to act quickly, considering patients can now travel across the border to get medication for their children.
Ellen also sought the approval of Penelope's neurologist, who also treats the Mathes' family's daughter.
Dr. Anna Kosentka, a Knoxville pediatric neurologist, sent a letter to the legislature voicing her full approval for the use of CBD oil. She said in the letter while there are many medications, they are not effective for all patients and implored the representatives to give the matter serious consideration.
Ellen said using the oil for Penelope may help her catch up developmentally.
Currently, Penelope is 7 months old, but she has the development of a 2-month-old. While she should be sitting up, holding her head on her own, giggling, grasping objects and saying her first words. She cannot do any of that.
Ellen only wants for her daughter to be healthy and free of seizures. She thinks CBD oil could be the answer.
"We say we haven't even met our child yet," she said.
News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Local mother advocates for the legalization of cannabis oil to help combat daughter's seizures | Kingsport Times-News
Author: Nick Sherpherd
Contact: nshepherd@timesnews.net
Photo Credit: Ellen, Penelope and Andy McCall
Website: Kingsport Times-News
She was a bit of a miracle baby, conceived after her parents, Ellen and Andy McCall, used in vitro fertilization. Ellen had to have her fallopian tubes removed after experiencing ectopic pregnancies, when a fertilized egg does not move to the womb and instead stays in the fallopian tube.
Everything seemed to be going well for the Greeneville family during the first three months.
But then Penelope began having seizures. And at four months old, she began having leg twitches.
"You kind of just see that and you're like, 'that's not normal,'" Ellen said. "I started researching it ... and while we were waiting on the appointment with the neurologist, that's when one day she started having the spasms where her arms flail out and her eyes roll back."
Penelope began having clusters of seizures, where she would spasm for a few seconds, then be calm, then spasm again. The clusters would sometimes last up to two minutes. A neurologist diagnosed Penelope with infantile spasms.
Infantile spasms are a specific type of seizure, occurring within the first year of life, seen in an epilepsy syndrome of infancy, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Some infants can have dozens of clusters and several hundred spasms per day.
There are medicines that help treat the seizures, but serious side effects can occur, according to NINDS. Penelope uses medicine but Ellen said she has regressed in her development since beginning the medications
"It almost feels like you don't have a bond with your baby because she doesn't respond to you," Ellen said. "Most parents can make their baby giggle and laugh. She doesn't do that."
This has led Ellen to advocate at the Tennessee Legislature for the legalization of cannabis oil, or CBD oil, as a treatment. She learned about the treatment through another family in Greeneville, the Mathes family, whose child also suffers with seizures.
Cannabis oil is a derivative of marijuana, but contains *edit* typically less than 5 percent* of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, which is the ingredient that gets users high.
"Since it has such low THC, they're not getting a high from it," she said. "You could drink a whole bottle of oil and still not get a high from it. So you're not making your children high."
A bill was introduced in the Tennessee House by Rep. Jeremy Faison, R-Cosby, in early February that would allow people to possess CBD oil under certain circumstances. The bill would redefine marijuana by removing the requirement that cannabis oil containing cannabidiol and less than nine-tenths of 1 percent of TCH be transferred, dispensed, possessed or administered as part of a clinical research study to be legal possession.
"God put this plant on earth for us to use," Faison said. "I see it as a very good thing and I think we'll get it passed in Tennessee."
Faison admits he had stigmatized the plant as well. But when he met the Mathes family and held their daughter, Josie, in his arms, he began to change his mind, he said.
After talking with the family, who had done hours of research on the subject, Faison began to think, "We're crazy in Tennessee for not allowing this." So he filed the bill and he immediately received calls from Johnson City to Memphis thanking him and showing their support.
The bill went before the Criminal Justice subcommittee in the Tennessee House on Feb. 19. Ellen and Penelope drove to Nashville to advocate for it. Action was deferred until March 10 so more information on the oil can be obtained.
Faison said all the members of the subcommittee had questions. He also said that all the representatives have grown up demonizing marijuana so he has a lot of work ahead of him to teach his fellow politicians about the benefits of marijuana.
This is not the first time Tennessee has waded into the cannabis oil debate.
In 2014, the Tennessee legislature and Gov. Bill Haslam approved a four-year study of the use of cannabis oil in treating intractable seizures. The state commissioned Tennessee Tech to grow marijuana, process it into oil and dispense it within limitations set by the law.
In order for medical providers to be able to dispense cannabis oil, they needed to be a part of a medical study, but the law is limited and doesn't allow any doctor to prescribe oil to any patient across the state.
Faison's bill hopes to change that, making oil immediately available to patients.
Legalizing cannabis oil has picked up steam in recent days across the country.
Last Thursday, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed a bill legalizing use of the oil into law. Missouri legalized its use and sale in February and the Georgia House of Representatives approved a bill to legalize cannabis oil by a 158-2 vote.
Faison and Ellen both hope the Virginia ruling puts pressure on legislators to act quickly, considering patients can now travel across the border to get medication for their children.
Ellen also sought the approval of Penelope's neurologist, who also treats the Mathes' family's daughter.
Dr. Anna Kosentka, a Knoxville pediatric neurologist, sent a letter to the legislature voicing her full approval for the use of CBD oil. She said in the letter while there are many medications, they are not effective for all patients and implored the representatives to give the matter serious consideration.
Ellen said using the oil for Penelope may help her catch up developmentally.
Currently, Penelope is 7 months old, but she has the development of a 2-month-old. While she should be sitting up, holding her head on her own, giggling, grasping objects and saying her first words. She cannot do any of that.
Ellen only wants for her daughter to be healthy and free of seizures. She thinks CBD oil could be the answer.
"We say we haven't even met our child yet," she said.
News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Local mother advocates for the legalization of cannabis oil to help combat daughter's seizures | Kingsport Times-News
Author: Nick Sherpherd
Contact: nshepherd@timesnews.net
Photo Credit: Ellen, Penelope and Andy McCall
Website: Kingsport Times-News
