‘This is going to be our best Christmas ever’
Family’s joy as Ava, 7, finally gets licence for medicinal cannabis
A SEVEN-YEAR-OLD Irish girl has been granted a licence for medicinal cannabis, after she spent months in Holland to gain access to the drug.
On Monday, Minister for Health Simon Harris signed a licence for Ava Barry, following years of campaigning by her mother Vera Twomey.
Speaking from Holland, Ms Twomey said her daughter will be home for Christmas.
‘I’m absolutely thrilled and delighted. Christmas is going to be brilliant, everything is going to be great,’ she told the Mail.
Before moving to The Hague from Cork this summer, Ava suffered daily from dozens of painful seizures due to a rare form of epilepsy. She lives with Dravet syndrome, which can result in up to 20 seizures a day.
‘Ava’s seizures have melted away over the course of a few months,’ said Vera. ‘She used to experience tonic-clonic seizures, which are very dramatic, like the ones you see on TV.
‘She’s had none of them since we moved here and got treatment. She’s had the best of treatment here. It’s a shame the HSE and Department of Health do not behave in a modern way.’
Vera said Ava is winning the fight against epilepsy, but others should be able to avail of the same treatment in Ireland. ‘Doctors in Ireland should be trained in the use of medicinal cannabis, and that has to be done to give others a chance. I’ve got what I want for Ava, now it’s time for others.’
Vera, who has three other children – Sophia, Michael and Elvera-Mae – all under the age of six, said the family had suffered since Vera and Ava moved away to seek treatment.
Last year, three-year-old Tristan Forde, who has severe epilepsy, became the first person here legally allowed to use medicinal cannabis. Last February, Mr Harris said he would implement a recommendation that cannabisbased products be made available to some patients with MS, epilepsy, and those suffering nausea from chemotherapy.