Marijuana Saved Her Life. This Could Change Everything

April 28, 2014

Charlotte Figi had her first seizure when she was 3 months old. Over the next few months, the girl, affectionately called Charlie, had frequent seizures lasting two to four hours, and she was hospitalized repeatedly.

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By the time she was 3, Charlotte was having up to 300 grand mal seizures every week. Eventually she lost the ability to walk, talk and eat.

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The seizures were so severe Charlotte's heart stopped a number of times. Doctors suggested putting the child in a medically induced coma to give her small, battered body a rest.

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Her father, Matt Figi, found a similar case online in which medical marijuana helped a boy's seizures. The family decided to give it a try.

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The Figi family soon heard about the Stanley brothers, one of Colorado's largest marijuana growers and dispensary owners. These six brothers were crossbreeding a strain of marijuana low in THC, the compound in marijuana that's psychoactive, and high in CBD, which has medicinal properties but no psychoactivity.

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The brothers started the Realm of Caring Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provides cannabis to adults and children suffering from a host of diseases. Here Josh Stanley, right, gives CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta a tour.

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The first time Paige Figi gave her daughter, Charlotte, cannabis oil, the child's seizures stopped for seven days.

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The marijuana strain Charlotte and 41 other people use to help their symptoms has been named after her. It's called Charlotte's Web.

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Today, Charlotte is thriving. Her seizures are down to 2 to 3 per month, almost solely in her sleep. She is walking, can feed herself and is talking more and more each day, her parents say.

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"I literally see Charlotte's brain making connections that haven't been made in years," Matt Figi said of his daughter. "I want other people, other parents, to know that this is a viable option."

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Source: CNN