Nine Year Old Amelia Weaver Successfully Combats Dravet Syndrome With Cannabis Oil

Amelia Weaver’s First Seizure Came Before Her 2nd Birthday.

It was witnessed by both Amelia’s mother and pediatrician, as she sat in the doctor’s office for treatment for the flu. By the age of three, she was having between 30 and 80 atonic seizures, commonly referred to as drop seizures, per day. Not long after, Amelia was diagnosed with Dravet Syndrome, a rare and intractable form of epilepsy. Given that the Weaver family resided in Minnesota, the increasingly relevant cannabis oil treatment wasn’t a legal option. Rather, the family was forced into a litany of pharmaceutical treatments, trying 23 different anti-epileptic medications with no success.

With cases such as Charlotte Figi of Colorado making headlines for her miraculous recovery via cannabis oil treatment for Dravet Syndrome, the Weavers were convinced that there was a solution to their daughter’s condition. While they entertained the option of uprooting their lives and moving to a state where medical marijuana was an option, they instead chose to stay in Minnesota and begin aggressively campaigning for such options within their state. Amelia’s mother, Angie, facilitated a letter-writing campaign to the governor, testified before the state legislature and opened up about her daughter’s condition to media outlets.

On July 1, 2015, Minnesota’s medical marijuana program officially began.

The company producing Amelia’s cannabis oil, LeafLine Labs, delayed distributing the treatment named Cobalt for three weeks because it didn’t meet quality standards.

Following a long and arduous wait, Amelia’s medical marijuana treatment—which includes three doses of cannabis oil a day, mixed with coconut oil and administered through a dropper—her drop seizures have been reduced to zero. Furthermore, she has only had a handful of what are known as generalized tonic-clonic seizures, or GTCs, since receiving the oil. The elated family reports that Amelia is now sleeping as many as five hours at a time and making gains in her education.

With Amelia finally having access to a successful treatment option, the main hurdle the Weaver family now faces is the affordability of the cannabis oil. As the newly enacted medical marijuana program slowly expands and prices stabilize, the family faces a roughly $200 a month and climbing cost of treating Amelia’s seizures.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the family afford the treatment and keep their daughter on the road to wellness.