Abby Rowe, medical refuge from Missouri could be in good company as patient counts surpass 100k in her home state.
What does set Abby apart from many of the other patients is the rare connective tissue disorder she suffers from called Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes. The Ehlers-Danlos syndromes (EDS) are a group of hereditary disorders of connective tissue that are varied in the ways they affect the body and in their genetic causes. The underlying concern is the abnormal structure or function of collagen and certain allied connective tissue proteins. The disorder, among other ways it ravages its sufferers, causes progressive pain, fatigue, and skin problems.
In an interview in May, Abby said, “In college, the physicality of going to class and studying in the library really started to take a toll on me. My doctors didn’t know how to treat me; it was a disease that they didn’t know much about.” She adds, “Now they know so much more, but at that point, they didn’t.” Abby clarifies that at this point in her early college experience, she was confused and suffering without guidance or understanding from many.
After a mutual friend suggested that she talk with a medical cannabis advocate, she started to open up to the idea of cannabis as medicine. It did benefit her. In fact, she eventually got off the other drugs that she says, “I didn’t need anyway,” and that were lowering her standard of living, causing her to live in a haze. She replaced those drugs with medical cannabis. But shortly after, a doctor told her she needed to seek alternative medicine and suggested she move to Colorado in order to legally medicate.
Abby ultimately made the decision to move so that she could seek the medical care that she desperately needed. She recalls that people called her a “medical refugee” when she moved from Missouri to Colorado around 2013. After five years, she then moved to New Hampshire, where she has been for nearly two years, another state in which medical marijuana is legal.
While she has found legal and safe access to medical cannabis in a different state, Abby looks forward to coming back to Missouri once marijuana is accessible. Given Missouri’s recently legalized medical cannabis program and slow-moving progress will soon ramp up as operators continue to come online and become fully operational. Abby hopes to come back to the state she loves once her needs can legally be met.