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18 adovcate focus cannabis patient care | vol. 3 no. 3 cannapatientcare.com breeding rights to the plant that Rylie has used for many years. "Most of the research that we're doing with Front Range is pret- ty much how certain phenotypes do in our region with natural soil and irrigation water," Janie explained. "Everything is organ- ic and natural. We're trying to figure out which phenotypes do really well in our environment and which do not." Some of the plants that they grow have a special con- nection to them. "The specific strain that we purchased the breeding rights to is the same strain that Rylie has used and a few other children with the same pathology of tumor that she had," said Janie. "And they've all been successful with it, so we're trying to figure out what makes it different from oth- er strains and other medicines in general." Her full recovery from such disfiguring bone tumors and remission has pleased and astounded all of Rylie's doctors. "Currently denosumab is the standard protocol for aggressive giant cell granuloma bone tumors," said Rylie. "It was chosen after a doctor had used it on two girls and wrote a medical paper on it. So, there wasn't really much research behind the denosumab." Rylie has been trying to change the treatment protocol recommendation due to the amount of research on cannabis as treatment. "Cannabis put me into remission and I've stayed in remission for nine years, and I didn't have to go on chemotherapy. From the people we've worked with through our foundation, there's been three other kids with the same type of tumor as me who have been put on the same type of regimen that I was on, and they were all put into remission as well. So, four people in total." By this measure, cannabis has been unofficially tested as a protocol more times than the current recommended regimen, and with good results. Encountering and Overcoming Obstacles As Rylie entered more into her advocacy role, the larger picture of how hard it can be to use cannabis to treat pediatric illness- es became clearer. The push for expanding safe access and the chance to use cannabis as a treatment proved to be an uphill and continuous battle. An example of one obstacle, which is not usually mentioned in Rylie's presentations, involves the local children's hospi- tal in Delaware, Nemours Children's Hospital (formerly known as AI duPont), where Rylie initially went to receive treatment for her tumors. The hospital had voiced their support of pass- ing Rylie's Law, with a few amendments. "Then about the night before Rylie's Law was signed, they withdrew their support," Rylie said. "We have learned that the hospital is actually very against medicinal cannabis." One doctor at the hospital had even tried to revoke Rylie's medical cannabis card at one point, saying she was addicted to cannabis and that it was not actually helping with her seizures. Janie explained that this experience was a hard lesson for them regarding advocacy and changing laws. "You can take a group or company's support, but you also need to look be- yond it," Janie explained. "We learned after the law was signed that by making an amendment to the law, the hospi- tal, in essence, was in control of the law. And then the minute that they withdrew their support, that meant that it was going Rylie with her family and supporters after passing a law in Delaware.