A Christmas wish for Cole
An NHS prescription is top of the list
NICOLA FINDLAY
A campaigning East Kilbride mum has just one wish for her little boy this Christmas – to be given an NHS prescription for lifesaving medicinal cannabis.
Cole Thomson suffers from severe epilepsy and mum, Lisa Quarrell, recently spoke of how her desperation to save her sone drove her to smuggle cannabis oil into Scotland from Holland.
She has since been given a legal private prescription for the cannabis oil Bedrolite from a London hospital with an East Kilbride pharmacy providing the medicine at cost.
Seven-year-old Cole is now seven months seizure-free after previously enduring up to 10 seizures a day.
However, Lisa is calling on Scottish Health Secretary Jeane Freeman to authorise ‘compassionate funding’ for Bedrolite from NHS Scotland as she still has to spend £840 per month for Cole’s prescription.
And a year on from a change in the law by the Secretary of State which saw cannabis-based medicine rescheduled in a bid to make it more accessible to people like Cole, Lisa says the exact opposite has happened.
She told the News: “This was nothing but a political stunt – it has had the exact opposite effect. Not one prescription had been issued in the UK on the NHS since the law change.
“In my case it has made it impossible to access what my son needs through the NHS.”
She went on: “This time last year I was naive and had no idea what lay ahead for my family.
“I have repeatedly asked for help from the First Minister, even five minutes of her time, but the door remains bolted shut.
“It is down to individual GPs to prescribe Bedrolite but there is such a taboo around cannabis and, they say, lack of evidence, that they just won’t prescribe it.
“It is consistently blocked higher up the chain, no one will take ownership and GPs aren’t given the support they need.
“There has been a continuous fight with politicians, the NHS and local health board and I feel like I am going in circles to be honest. But I will never stop fighting for Cole and to have our Christmas wish of an NHS prescription.”
And Lisa said the struggles Cole has gone through at such a young age has taken its toll.
She went on: “Cole has been through so much and now has anxiety, stress and flashbacks and has been struggling emotionally.
“There’s a strong possibility this is delayed trauma after all he went through in a short space of time, or it could be partly down to side effects of the epilepsy drugs prescribed to him by the NHS.”
Lisa recently spoke in the Scottish Parliament and is backing a cross-party support letter to Jeane Freeman from Glasgow region MSP Pauline McNeill.
It calls on the Scottish Government to set up a fund for parents like Lisa to access Bedrolite on the NHS while an inquiry into cannabis regulation is undertaken.
While the letter has been signed by Monica Lennon MSP and Councillor Monique McAdams, Lisa said she is “deeply disappointed” that East Kilbride MSP Linda Fabiani and Westminster candidate Dr Lisa Cameron haven’t shown the same support.
“Both have refused so far to sign the letter which I find very hard to take. I keep getting told it’s a UK not a Scottish Government issue but I want every politician supporting the fight for Cole. I don’t care what the rest of the country is doing, what is Scotland doing for Cole?” she said.
“I believe Dr Cameron is pushing for Cole to be included in a trial to access medical cannabis launched in England. But I have been told by his doctors not to mess about under any circumstances with what Cole has been taking and the last thing I want to do is set him back. And a trial could take up to five years before there are any conclusions and what is it going to do – tell me what I already know?”
Lisa continues to be overwhelmed by the support of those backing her fight.
“Cole’s best friend, Lucy Park, attended George Square recently for the Independence rally to try to speak to Nicola Sturgeon to share Cole’s fight and ask for her help. That was such an amazing gesture and we are eternally grateful to those who have supported us and continue to do so.”
Linda Fabiani MSP said: “I help all constituents to the best of my ability. In relation to the issues covered in the letter, I am in regular discussion and correspondence with the Cabinet Secretary for Health, NHS Lanarkshire and other relevant organisations.
“I will always act in what I believe to be the most useful way to reach a beneficial solution.”
Dr Lisa Cameron said: “I have already written in my capacity as MP for East Kilbride to the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Secretary of State for Health and also the First Minister to advocate these issues in Cole Thomson’s case.
“I have been advised that multi-site trials for 20,000 patients could address funding and clinical prescribing for families affected and Ms Quarrell agreed that I write to the Secretary of State for Health to request that Cole’s case be considered which I have.”