Renee Petro and Her Son Branden Open up to CULTURE About the Heart-Wrenching Battle to Get Branden Access to THC

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap radius”]A[/dropcap] mother’s instinct when her child falls ill is a simple one—find the treatment that can help her child at any cost, and make things alright again. Usually, this is either doable, or sadly not, in the case of terminal cancer and other serious ailments. However, there are some grey-area cases where the treatment that can help a sick child is within arm’s reach, but blocked by the iron grip of federal regulations. This is exactly the situation that Renee and Branden Petro know all too well when it comes to dealing with 13-year-old Branden’s prescribed illness.

Branden suffers from cerebral inception related epilepsy syndrome, a rare form of epilepsy that only affects a small number of people. He was first diagnosed at eight years of age, up until which point he was deemed completely healthy and academically sound. His diagnoses set his health and development back considerably, something the Petros struggle with every day.

Renee initially tried all the available pharmaceutical medications available for Branden. None of them stopped the seizures, or really even helped to reduce them, and all had severe and staggering side effects. Unsure where to turn next, Renee decided to venture out to California, where she could learn more about the cannabis-based treatments available to those who suffer from seizure conditions.

“Branden and I traveled to California recently where we stayed for about a month, and we went
through A-Z trying to get rid of that stereotype,” she states, referring to the “stoner” stigma still often attached to medical cannabis. She struggled to find a cure that would work for Branden, as the CBD oil she tried frustratingly had no effect on the seizures. However, she stuck it out and was able to find
something that helped her son.

“We went through a doctor in Oakland to try and get him cannabis,” she stated. “There was so much given to us that we didn’t have time to try it all, but between here and there, the success that Branden has seen is not from CBD; it’s from THC oil and THCA. At this given time, CBD is not what Branden needs; he needs a calmer something to calm him down. What seems to calm him down is THCA oil.”

This was wonderful news for the Petros, and there was finally a light at the end of the tunnel regarding Branden’s serious condition. Unfortunately, the good feeling was not to last too long, as the Petros currently reside in Florida, a state with a very strict anti-cannabis policy. Renee was not able to bring oil into the state at all, nor was she allowed to give Branden cannabis medication there, so he is unable to get treatment at the current time. She has also had to deal with child protective services coming to her home because of the media interest surrounding her son’s treatment and has had her parenting called into question, something that is always extremely hard for a mother.

However, Renee refuses to back down and stop advocating for her son, and she is willing to move across the country in order to get him the help that he needs. “I firmly believe that since his diagnoses is very rare, regression and progression is something that we fear, so I believe Branden will keep benefiting from the THC,” she tells us. “We are planning to relocate to California or Oregon. At the same time, I have to keep in mind that he is on three pharmaceutical medications. My main goal is not so much for him to be seizure free, it is for him to have the best quality of life and give him what the pharmaceuticals weren’t able to do. I firmly believe that as much as CBD is important, the others are important as well, and not everyone is going to react the same way. That’s what my focus as the advocate and the mother of a critically ill child, is that Branden may not need what another child needs. As a mother, I promised to make my son healthy and to make everything better. If that means breaking laws, then so be it. It’s the laws that need to be changed, not us trying to be good citizens instead of saving our loved one’s lives.”