Fresh off of the November 3rd election, Ohio voters shot down the prospect of legalizing medicinal and recreational marijuana use. Ridiculous, right? How many more people need to be incarcerated and lives ruined over a little pot or those suffering through illnesses where organic oils from a plant can take the place of harsh chemically produced medication?
Some called the deal “bad” for the state due to emanate monopolization while others were praying the issue would pass in hopes to make medical marijuana legal. Let’s face it someone is going to get “rich” off of weed we know that, but at what cost do we shut it down and look away as there are citizens of Ohio in need of alternative medicine?
A month prior to the election you couldn’t flip to a local television station and not see an ad in support of Issue 3 showing a little girl named Addyson Benton who suffered epileptic seizures. Her family was forced to Colorado in order to treat their daughter with medical marijuana.
Let me introduce you to another child seeking relief from cannabis oil, his name is Huxley Williams. He is a sweet, brilliant boy who turns 3 on November 30th. He lives in Madeira, Ohio, with his family, Cheryl (mom), Nate (dad), Chloe (9-yr-old sister), and Watson (10-month-old brother). His parents grew up in Cincinnati – Mom in Norwood, Dad went to Roger Bacon.
Source: Cheryl WIlliams / Cheryl Williams
Late August this year he was not recovering from a chest cold turned pneumonia and had other troublesome symptoms that warranted blood tests and a CT scan at Cincinnati Children’s. He was soon diagnosed with a brain tumor. Since then, a brain biopsy along with a stint to relieve the hydrocephalus that was causing him headaches, double vision, and water on the brain, was performed. Cincinnati couldn’t conclude a diagnosis, so after sending the biopsy to St. Jude’s, he was diagnosed with a 2″ around brain tumor that is a pilocytic astrocytoma in his brain stem, specifically in the pons and medulla. These are the areas that control motor skills, breathing, swallowing, heartbeat, etc. It is inoperable, as it has infiltrated his brain stem, rather than being a solid mass that could be extracted. Plus, it is pretty sizable.
Huxley has had a few setbacks, including a recent chest cold and getting C-Diff, a stomach/gut bacteria from being in the hospital, and is has now regressed quite a bit from where he was at home just a week ago. He has also since had a stroke at some point that we, as his parents, are diligently researching how to minimize its damage to his brain.
While we have him on a very aggressive nutrition and supplement regimen that has strong science behind it to bolster his immune system to fight the tumor, he has also tested positive for a genetic mutation called V600E, for which there is a targeted chemo pill called Dabrafenib. While this drug has substantially better success rates than traditional chemo/radiation for what he has, the doctors have taken it off the taken because of his condition.
As in most of these situations, the family is struggling with work schedules, ensuring they can still pay their bills as well as juggling their schedule to keep our other two children living happy, quasi-normal lives throughout this.
The team at Cincinnati Children’s believes they have done everything in their power for him, the family is leaning towards the possibility of having him transferred to Denver, Colorado where he could receive treatment with cannabis oil, that will address his brain tumor and quite possibly have an effect on the damage caused by his stroke as well. They’re also reaching out to every expert we can find in the alternative treatments worlds to treat the effects of his stroke.
Huxley’s mother Cheryl says “As hard as it may be, we may have to allow a family member to move to Colorado with Huxley while he undergoes treatment so we don’t have to uproot our entire family and further traumatize his siblings, and put our jobs in jeopardy, which we need to keep intact to fund Huxley’s treatment options”.
For more on Huxley’s Story: Huxley’s Epic Battle Against Pediatric DIPG Brain Tumor https://www.gofundme.com/help-huxley-fight
Story By: Jamie Ciolino
