UK resident Robin Emerson finds himself fighting the fight against healthcare organizations in order to help his daughter enjoy a better quality of life and potentially extend the length of her life simultaneously. Like other parents with a child suffering from epilepsy, the road to medicine for daughter Jorja, has not been short or without peril. Jorja was born with a severe form of epilepsy that caused her to suffer from over 30 seizures per day – before she had even turned one-year-old. Six months of her life at that point had been spent hospitalized, and the worst of the seizures lasted up to 17 hours each.
A series of moments in his daughter’s young life spanned the range of emotions from rage to terror but Emerson took his emotions and channeled them into finding relief for Jorja despite the known battles ahead, first seen in the Billy Caldwell case. During research into similar stories, not only did Emerson read about the struggles in the UK, but also learned the story of a child in Australia that was the same age as Jorja and had the same condition, currently thriving under a treatment plan that contained medical cannabis.
Jorja’s first prescription for medical cannabis was issued in 2018 after a neurologist at a private hospital was open to writing the script and importing the medicine from Canada. Emerson recalls the nervous anticipation when administering the first dose and over five long weeks of experimentation with the medicine under Jorja’s tongue via syringe, her symptoms began to improve. Two years later, Jorja is now four and her seizures have significantly decreased, with many days that are completely seizure-free, and on those days when they do occur, they last mere seconds, not hours.
While those living in the UK still fight to have medical cannabis available, Emerson quit his job two years ago to work within the medical cannabis industry to gain access for patients like Jorja whose life has been saved and extended as a result of the medicine. It’s stories like these that make us more determined than ever to change the lives of patients and educate them about options for medical cannabis and improve their quality of life.
To read more about CBD oil from Project CBD, check out the link below.