County Cork puts best foot forward for Ava
COMMUNITIES across the Lee Valley turned out in force at the weekend to show their support for local mother Vera Twomey who walked from Macroom to the Dáil this week to have her message heard.
Vera has faced a hard battle to try and get medicinal cannabis made a legal medicine in Ireland so that she can then obtain it for her daughter Ava who suffers from Dravets Syndrome, an extremely rare drug resistant epilepsy.
She spent the last week walking to Dublin to try and get the Minister For Heath to work towards making medicinal cannabis legal. She eventually made it but had to make use of a wheelchair following injuries suffered during her mammoth walk. It was worth it in the end as she had a four hour meeting with Minister Simon Harris which she later described as ‘positive’.
Ava has hundreds of seizures daily and frequently spends long periods in hospital. All of the many drugs have been tried and failed to treat her seizures but medicinal cannabis has been shown to be successful.
To show their support for Ava and Vera, hundreds of people gathered in Ballincollig, Macroom, Coachford, Dripsey, Rylane and Ava’s home village of Aghabullogue last weekend. Children made posters and adults made speeches pleading for people to support Ava and asking the minister to address the situation urgently.
Mags Coleman O’Sullivan and husband Owen O’Sullivan who organised the event for Macroom and spent some time walking with Vera on her trip to the Daíl. Over 100 supporters in Macroom turned out in solidarity during some heavy showers in support of Vera Twomey’s walk from Mallow to the Daíl to fight for her daughther Ava’s right to receive medicinal cannabis