A Nebraska family advocates for the use of cannabis.
Medical marijuana has been making a sweep across our nation as legalization efforts bring the medicine that shows remarkable results to patients in need. While some have been using marijuana as medicine for decades, in recent years, we’ve heard about families with small children who feel as if their children with epilepsy have run out of options without medical marijuana.
The Hochsteins of Nebraska, are one of these families. Son Jayen, aged 10, has intractable epilepsy and suffered from his first seizure at just 4 months old. Jayen had brain surgery in 2014 and has a VNS which is like a pacemaker installed in 2019 and now his family contemplates another brain surgery to stop his seizures.
They have tried every treatment offered to them, but few have been fully successful. Many treatments carry side effects or have not been approved yet for minors. Balancing risk and reward is a balancing act for the family. After a year of steroids, another seemingly viable option at the time, the couple said the seizures returned. Other medications have only worked for a short time.
Nicole Hochstein said she isn’t sure her son can endure many more procedures or unsuccessful treatments. However, she said she also fears he could succumb to sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP).
The youngest Hochstein’s use of cannabis treatment could lead to other benefits, according to his father.
“If he had alternatives such as medical marijuana, it could be possible to take him off some of his current medications that have side effects,” he said. The Hochsteins have become some of the largest and most active voices in Nebraska in terms of legalization efforts and like in many other states, parents of children who have debilitating diseases have found themselves in the role of advocates for an industry they never considered relevant for themselves.
Read more about this family by visiting mom Nichole’s blog. http://nicolehochstein.blogspot.com/
