Medicinal form of drug saved my little girl’s life, says mum

THE mother of an eight-year-old Irish girl with drug-resistant epilepsy has thrown her weight behind the fight for medical cannabis to be legalised in the UK.

Vera Twomey’s daughter Ava Barry is one of only seven people in the Republic to be granted a licence to be prescribed cannabis oil, but she now wants all those suffering chronic conditions to have access to it.

Ms Twomey, from the village of Aghabullogue in Co Cork, said the issue was “bigger than borders” after she was invited to address MPs in Westminster as the campaign to change the law in Britmomentum. ain gathers

She added: “Our daughter is now in a position where her seizures are under control. She’s walking, speaking, going to school and the most important thing is she’s free of pain.

“It’s a privilege to see her improve daily on medical cannabis.”

Ms Twomey said she hoped the Irish Government would follow the example of its British counterpart as it plans a review of medical cannabis.

“Nobody is suggesting that medical cannabis will work for everybody, but for certain people like my daughter — who had run out of options — medical cannabis saved her life,” said Ms Twomey (pictured). Meanwhile, the government must make sure that severely epileptic boy Billy Caldwell does not “become an unwitting victim” of Northern Ireland’s “constitutional crisis”, the shadow secretary of state for Northern Ireland has warned. Labour’s Tony Lloyd told MPs that many urgent decisions were now “piling up” while the “voice of Stormont is silent”.

Secretary of State Karen Bradley said: “Across government we pressed to make sure that the case of Billy Caldwell was dealt with, with suitable respect and dignity for the little boy.”