We are lucky to live in Colorado.
Sure the mountains and recreation are great but that’s not what I’m talking about.
We are lucky to live here because we have access to medical marijuana. With all the press and late-night TV show jokes aimed at Colorado’s recreational pot culture these days, it’s easy to forget about the really important role MMJ plays in the lives of thousands of people, whether it’s helping cancer patients to eat and escape the horrors of constant nausea or helping glaucoma patients ease the pain caused by constant eye pressure. And we’ve all heard about the amazing impact cannabis can have on childhood seizures.
I honestly can’t imagine the anger I would feel if it were my child having seizures that I knew could be helped or even eliminated by using medical marijuana only to have my state government deny me that option. By the grace of God I don’t know that anger and frustration, but Susan Meehan does.
Susan Meehan lives in Connecticut with her family, which includes her daughter Cyndimae.
Thirteen-year-old Cyndimae had been having severe seizures since she was 10-months-old. She was diagnosed with a rare and very serious form of epilepsy known as Dravet syndrome.
Because her seizures were so long and hard on her small body, Cyndimae’s development was impacted. She was small for her age and she periodically had to be re-trained on how to do the most basic things such as learning to walk.
After trying every known prescription medicine to help her daughter and after every one of those drugs failed to alleviate Cyndimae’s painful seizures, Susan found herself with nowhere to turn. And then she heard about the success that other families who had children suffering with seizures were having with medical marijuana. So she asked her state for help in securing MMJ and administering it to her daughter. She was told no.
What would you do if you were simply told no, you can’t have or use a substance that might take the pain away from your child and possibly allow her to live a normal life someday?
Susan Meehan did what any good parent who could afford it would do. She packed up, grabbed her daughter and headed for Maine, the closest state that had the MMJ she so desperately needed.
It worked, or at least it was working. Various people close to the family told news outlets that Cydimae had managed to stop using her wheelchair. She seemed to be getting stronger every day, until Sunday, March 13.
That’s the day Cyndimae Meehan died.
According to what her mom said on youcaring.com she went peacefully.
“Sudden. She played today. She colored today. She died today. Unexplained. The switch just went off. Death. Final. Epilepsy. Caused by her 3rd vaccination set. She wasn’t seizing, just sleeping on daddy’s chest in the light of day on her couch, her favorite place in the world. SUDEP kills.”
Family and friends have established a couple of funds to help with medical expenses, including MMJ, along with other expenses incurred by the family in their efforts to give their daughter a better quality of life. All of the family’s bills are now taken care of according to the Meehan’s fundraising page on the youcaring.com site.
The world has lost a true warrior, or more accurately, a whole family and community of warriors. Cyndimae is gone but her fight will continue.
It’s good to live in Colorado.
