Charlotte Figi of Colordao is not quite like other six-year-old girls; she, unfortunately, suffers from a rare form of epilepsy known as Dravet Syndrome, which causes severe seizures to wrack her small body. Charlotte was inhibited by over 300 seizures a month, which prevented her not just from running and playing like her peers, but from simple, everyday necessities, such as eating and walking on her own. Nothing seemed to help put the child’s ailments to rest; that is, until her parents decided to try cannabis oil.
Charlotte’s father, Matt Figi, had previously heard of an instance where another child with Charlotte’s same disease had found relief with the aid of medical marijuana, and he and his wife decided to give it a shot. Paige, Charlotte’s mother, recalled, “When she didn’t have those three, four seizures that first hour, that was the first sign, and I thought well, ‘Let’s go another hour, this has got to be a fluke. The seizures stopped for another hour. And for the following seven days.”
The particular strain used to treat Charlotte has been nicknamed “Charlotte’s Web,” and is low in THC (which causes the effects associated with a “high”) and high in CBD, which is cannabis’s main medical component. The treatment was finally approved by pediatricians and other health specialists after a long and arduous battle, and the results have been nothing short of amazing.
Medicinal marijuana has allowed Charlotte to catch up with her peers at an incredibly fast pace; she can now walk, eat, and even ride a bicycle without any assistance. According to her parents, she has been talking more and more each day. Thanks to the relief she finds in medical marijuana, she is able to lead a more fulfilling and less painful life, just like any six-year-old should have the opportunity to do.
Thanks to this Imgur album, we can see how Charlotte has been able to successfully transition from a little girl battered by an unfortunate illness…
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…into a healthier, happier girl, ready to take on the world.
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