Child Using Cannabis for Epilepsy Cannot Return to Home Country
Eleven-year-old Billy Caldwell is using cannabis oil to treat his severe form of epilepsy, and although the treatment is working miraculously, it is making a return to his home in Ireland impossible.
Billy’s mother, Charlotte, traveled to the United States to treat her son’s epilepsy with cannabis oil containing Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive portion of cannabis. His treatment has reduced the frequency and severity of her son’s seizures dramatically, but due to Ireland’s refusal to recognize cannabis as medicine, she is unable to return home without abandoning Billy’s treatment.
“We’re in a horrendous situation. We’re isolated from friends and family here. We’re like refugees,” she said.
Billy was first diagnosed with epilepsy when he was still a baby, and he was plagued with up to 100 seizures a day. Physicians in Ireland said there was nothing they could do for the child and that he would likely not survive long. Caldwell could not accept that prognosis and began researching alternative methods of healing her son’s ailment. Eight years later she came across Dr. Douglas Nordli, an epilepsy specialist in Chicago.
With the aid of cannabis, Billy remained mostly seizure-free until last summer when he suffered through several large seizures. The family sought help from a number of European countries, but due to their limited cannabis programs, they were put onto a waiting list with little hope for reaching the end of it.
That’s when the family went to California. Dr. Nordli is now the chief of pediatric neurology at the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. The doctors there believe that a surgery may be Billy’s best chance for recovery, but it is not without risk. The surgery would take place in the portion of the brain that is responsible for memory and speech and could have an adverse effect on both. They also hope to shrink the lesion that is causing the problem through the use of cannabis.
Billy would need to keep up the cannabis regiment for two years after the surgery is complete. Due to the mounting medical and travel expenses, the family is trying to raise £300,000 (375,510 USD) through the Keep Billy Alive Facebook group. This is to cover the expense of living in Los Angeles, the medicine and the hospital costs.
