As mums we would do anything to help our children, much like Vera Twomey who rang 98FM's Dublin Talks this morning to discuss her campaign to get the Government to legalise medical marijuana here in Ireland.
Vera’s six-year-old daughter, Ava Barry, suffers from Dravets syndrome – an extremely rare, drug-resistant epilepsy that sees her experience hundreds of seizures a day – and frequently spends long periods of time in hospital.
As of this moment, the little girl has tried many drugs with doctors saying her only chance to really control it is through medicinal marijuana, which is available legally in the US, Australia, Brazil and recently Columbia.
Believing her little girl shouldn’t have to travel to access treatment, Vera set up a petition on Change.org calling for the Minister for Health Simon Harris to allow the family access the drug here.
Highlighting how it has helped children suffering from similar seizures, the petition says: “In the USA children who were having up to three hundred seizures a day were reduced to two a month after beginning CBD oil reductions of sixty to eighty percent even in some cases eliminating seizures completely. “
PLS RT @SimonHarrisTD please look into story of Ava Barry who has dravets syndrome. she needs medicinal marijuana to help with seizures
— Dublin Talks™ 98FM (@DublinTalks98FM) October 6, 2016
Listeners to Dublin Talks were quick to say they couldn’t understand why it isn’t allowed here in Ireland, with one writing on Facebook: “It definitely should be available for medicinal use at the very least. This mother knows it works for her daughter and it’s a disgrace that she can’t get it - imagine watching your child having constant seizures and knowing there is something that can help but she can’t get it here.”
