Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1482660
caregiver focus 22 cannabis patient care | vol. 3 no. 3 cannapatientcare.com T HE PATH to a better understanding of the medical benefits of cannabis can often be difficult to navigate. It usually comes as a surprise, because healthcare workers and providers working within standard main- stream medicine need help for specific hard-to-treat condi- tions. They will try alternate therapies, which is especially im- portant when it comes to their child just starting out in life. It has to be something that can really work, and can really help even the very young, even as the medical community keeps pushing back against novel ideas of treatment, trying to conceal the blind spots they have in their own education and training. Sometimes, someone has to step up and take the risks of try- ing an unproven treatment that could just save the life of their loved one no matter the pushback they experience. Tracy Ryan, mother of cancer patient Sophie, knows that drill all too well. The Long Journey to the First Dose Ryan's journey in cannabis started when her 8-month-old daughter Sophie was diagnosed with a low-grade brain tumor called an optic pathway glioma. Optic pathway gliomas (1) account for 3–5% of all pediatric central nervous system tumors, and represent the most common intrinsic optic nerve tumors. These tumors occur during the first decade of life. Their behavior can be aggressive, and their management is often challenging. In Sophie's case, the tumor left her legally blind. The type of tumor that she has wraps around the optic nerves and has stolen a lot of her vision. Various brain surgeries have also caused problems with her eyesight. "My husband and I discovered very quickly that only 3.8% of all government funding was going to pediatric cancer re- search," Ryan said. "There had been little to no advancements in the last 40 years in medicines for children. Our baby only had chemotherapy as an option." The chemotherapy they were using "has not been evolved," Ryan said. "I mean, probably it evolved a little as far as how they administer it. But the treatment itself was the same as it was in the 1980s before we even had cell phones. How is it possible that the world has come this far, in technology, in re- search, in space travel, all these things that billions and bil- lions of dollars have been spent on, but yet our children have been forgotten? How is that possible?" It was then when she told her husband, Josh, that she would find out more about helping her daughter. "I'm not going to sit here on my hands and not do anything and just listen to what Western medicine tells us to do for our daughter," Ryan said. "I would look into Sophie's eyes and tell her 'Honey, one day, this is just going to be a story that we tell. I know that in my heart, I'm confident of that. You are going to survive this. You are go- ing to outlive us all. It's not always going to be this bad.'" A couple of weeks later, Ryan got a bit of luck from the pro- duction partner of TV celebrity Ricki Lake (2). Lake had just be- gun filming a documentary called Weed the People (in October 2018), which was released in 2018 and is now on Netflix (3). Lake's partner, Abby Epstein, the director of the documen- tary (4), introduced Ryan to medical cannabis and its po- tential efficacy just in time to help them find cannabis as an Tracy Ryan is the co-founder and CCO for NKore BioTherapeutics. Before that, she was CEO and lead consultant for the parent-friendly California-based cannabis corporation CannaKids, focusing on supplying medical cannabis oil to adults and children looking for holistic relief for serious health conditions, and specializing in pediatric cancer. In June 2013, Ryan's 8-month old daughter, Sophie, was diagnosed with a brain tumor, which doctors said could end up causing vision loss in both eyes. That set Ryan off on a journey to educate herself on the medicinal powers of medical cannabis in treating her own daughter's disease, as well as all other pediatric and adult cancers, epilepsy, autism, and beyond. Today, doctors are astounded that Sophie's tumor has shrunk as a result of two infusions of Natural Killer (NK) cell immunotherapy, cannabis oil, and a probiotic developed by her business partner Dr. Anahid Jewett. This is Ryan's story of overcoming obstacles to discover a better way to improve the health and wellness of her daughter. On a very personal level with other parents facing similar cancer diagnoses, she continues her mission to spread the word about the value of medical cannabis through major media outlets and speaking engagements. A Mother's Hope: Cannabinoids Helping Kill Cancer Cells B Y D A V I D H O D E S