Medical Marijuana's Promise of Relief Lures Desperate Parents and Patients to Flee Texas
 |
| Renee Petro |
| Activist and CannaMom Renee Petro with her son Branden the Brave, who suffers from a severe form of epilepsy. |
"Low THC is not enough," she says. "We need to treat medical marijuana like a drug cocktail; we need to be able to utilize the whole drug. We need the whole plant to make sure we have the right medicine."
As one of Florida's most outspoken cannabis advocates and the founder of a group of "CannaMoms," Petro is a whole-plant advocate, and she believes that THC and the other cannabinoids in marijuana are useful and must be included in some treatments.
Her stance on marijuana is a far cry from that of CBD supporters, but there's good reason for it. CBD will not work for Branden or thousands of other children. Some patients need more from the plant and in different combinations or doses. It's no different from any other pharmaceutical, she says, and shouldn't be seen as such.
"Cannabis is medicine," Petro says. "But most people don't get that until they have a personal stake in it."
"I will never forget what that day was like," she says, her voice shaking slightly. "Branden walked into the room and he says to me, 'Mommy, I'm so tired. I need to go back to sleep.' And that was the last time I spoke to my son."
Branden was a normal, happy 8-year-old enjoying the summer of 2010 with his family in Jordan in the Middle East (where Petro's extended family lives). He woke up one morning with flu-like symptoms, and a lump on the side of his neck soon followed, but the symptoms seemed normal enough to his mom, who figured he'd caught a bug.
But two rounds of antibiotics did nothing, and his symptoms continued to worsen. The lump and the fever gave way to violent, uncontrollable seizures. Branden, whose father was in the military, was stabilized as much as he could be in Jordan and was sent by medevac to Germany in a medically induced coma.
Doctors in Germany tried everything possible to treat Branden, but the seizures rarely broke, and protocols that had worked in similar cases were ineffective at best. With no definite diagnosis, even surefire tricks like the cooling bed, meant to bring down his staggering 105-degree fever, made the seizures worse.
Desperate, the doctors just continued to pump him full of drugs at doses so high he would hallucinate. Branden also began drooling and hissing from the medications.
"We were in Germany for a month, and they finally got Branden stable enough to transport him back to the U.S.," says Petro. "He flew with a group of wounded warriors. Some of their injuries were pretty severe, and they had wounded-warrior patches. The guys gave their patches to Branden when they landed, and said it was because he was the bravest person they'd ever met."
It's been four years since Branden first showed signs of being sick, and his mother is still fighting as hard as she did back in Jordan. But this time, she's got a diagnosis -- FIRES, or febrile infection-related epilepsy syndrome -- and a plan to get her hands on some medical marijuana.
With cannabis, Petro is convinced she can wean her son from the pharmaceutical cocktail he's on now. Benzodiazepines are the first line of meds used to treat seizure disorders and include drugs such as Depakote, Klonopin and Valium, which are incredibly addictive. Branden is on the highest dose possible for his size; anything higher would be toxic. The goal is to replace the pharmaceuticals with medicine tailored to what his body needs. But that change -- like most -- won't come easy. There are provisions in Florida's laws that make it possible for her to claim an exemption for Branden, but that's not enough for this mom. Change needs to happen for everyone, she says.
And while Petro knows there are out-of-state options, she says too many people can't afford to become medical marijuana refugees and in order for parents to have any hope, they have to be able to treat their children in their home states. Her fight has now gone all the way up through Florida's Legislature.
"Branden can get better if I can treat him," she says. "He may not be perfect, but he can get better."
< Previous>
Email to Friend
Write to Editor
Print ArticleAdvertisement
Houston's Space Problem 
The Dark Wall 
She said she'd change the immigration debate. What's the holdup? 
