Medical cannabis is the ‘last thing left to try’ for young Tina
THERE was an air of hope – hope for a better future and a few more years with Tina – in Mags McElligott’s voice last Friday as she and Tina prepared to say their farewells to Ireland, and prepared to fly out to Barcelona on Sunday morning for urgent medical cannabis treatment for Tina.
16-year old Tina, who is currently the oldest known person in the world to suffer from Alpers Disease, is in dire need of the treatment with Mags stating: “This is the last thing that we have left to try”.
“Tina’s seizures have become longer and they have told us in Dublin that the brain is deteriorating, so at the moment I have her on the Charlotte’s Web oil but this oil takes a long time to seep in through the body so it’s hard to see results,” said Mags, talking to The Kerryman.
Mags and Tina met with Spanish doctors first thing on Monday morning and Mags says that she is hopeful that this treatment will finally help end the seizures that have been impacting Tina for her entire life.
“I’m hoping that the cannabis will help to shrink the lesion on her brain and this will help to stop the seizures - we’re hoping that this will give us a longer time that we will be able to spend with Tina.”
“She is the first ever child in the world with Alpers ever to be treated with this oil - so we don’t know whether the oil will actually do anything but we have to try - this is the last thing we have left to try,” Mags said.