Mother’s plea to use cannabis oil to treat her son’s severe epilepsy
HE suffers up to 100 violent seizures a day and his only hope may be treatment derived from cannabis not available on the NHS.
Now the mother of a fiveyear-old boy with a rare form of epilepsy is to meet Scotland’s Health Secretary in a desperate bid to get help for her son.
Karen Gray believes cannabidiol (CBD), an oil derivative from the cannabis plant, could be used to treat her son Murray. The treatment is legal but not available on the NHS.
Health Secretary Shona Robison agreed to meet Mrs Gray after she launched an online petition and her case was raised at Holyrood. Edinburgh Lib Dem MP Christine Jardine has called on the Home Office to clarify the rules for health boards across the UK, so those who need cannabis oil can access it.
The oil is thought to have significant health benefits but does not contain the psychoactive elements of cannabis.
Mrs Gray, from Edinburgh, said: ‘I have had offers from CBD suppliers to supply it for free. With this you’ve really got to watch your liver and I really don’t want to take that risk. If it was for me I would go ahead, but it’s a bit different giving it to my five-year-old child.’
Murray has Doose Syndrome, also known as Myoclonic Astatic Epilepsy. He ‘lives with up to 100 seizures a day, and spends most of his life lying in a hospital bed shaking’.
Mrs Gray, 43, added: ‘It is very hard to control with the medicine available. In the US, medical cannabis has helped stop the daily seizures children with this syndrome have.
‘If medical cannabis was available on the NHS, my son may have a chance of a normal life.’
Doctors have told her to put Murray on a strictly regulated diet, which is high in fat and low in carbs, often undertaken to tackle the problem, but she believes this would be extremely limiting and offers a lower chance of success than CBD.
Mrs Gray said: ‘It would be better if the CBD was approved for medical use because the Government could regulate it and make sure it was safe.’
Alex Cole-Hamilton, the Liberal Democrat MSP for Edinburgh Western, highlighted Murray’s plight at Holyrood. He said: ‘Murray Gray suffers many violent seizures every day due to a rare form of epilepsy. He is just five years old.
‘The only relief that could be afforded to Murray is in the properties of cannabidiol. It is not available on the NHS.
‘His mother Karen is willing to procure and administer it herself but wants medical support and advice to do this safely.’
Miss Robison said: ‘I have every sympathy for Murray Gray and his family and of course I would be happy to meet with them.’
No cannabidiol products have obtained a licence from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.