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| Yvonne Cooper is pleading for access to medical cannabis to treat her daughter Sienna, who she says suffers more than 100 seizures a day. (Change.org) |
By
Nick Alexander
Close
to 50,000 people have thrown their support behind a NSW mum who is
pleading for access to medical cannabis on behalf of her eight-year-old
daughter, who she says comes a step closer to death every day.
Yvonne Cooper of Lake Heights, south of Wollongong, says she is "beside herself" and was driven to start a Change.org petition "out of desperation" after another night of thinking she was about to lose her little girl Sienna.
"I am
left with no options," Ms Cooper wrote. "Sienna suffers up to 100
epileptic seizures per day, each one life-threatening…We’ve been through
5 specialist doctors unable to help her. Right now she’s on 8 different
medications."
Every fit Sienna endures, Ms Cooper says, is damaging the child's brain and organs.
"I
have had to watch her cognitive ability decline, going from an IQ of
90-100 to a range from 41-52. She has been diagnosed with a severe
intellectual disability," Ms Cooper wrote.
"Now every seizure is a
step closer to death. Right now we are being forced to sit back and
watch our baby girl dying in front of us and not a single doctor in NSW
can help us. This is cruel and devastating."
Medicinal cannabis has been known to be an extremely effective treatment for epilepsy, but despite the federal government greenlighting the use of the drug last year, accessing it remains "complicated and confusing," according to Cunningham MP Sharon Bird.
As the Illawarra Mercury
reports, Ms Bird has thrown her support behind fast-tracking amendments
to the Therapeutic Goods Act which could hasten the delivery of the
treatment.
"I support this bill’s intention to streamline the
regulation of medicines and medical devices, while maintaining safety
and quality, regulation of medicines and medical devices," she told NSW
parliament this week.
As Nine.com.au has reported, many sufferers of chronic illness, including parents with sick children, have been forced to illegally seek treatment out of desperation.
Despite caution being urged in some quarters, some patients who have spoken to Nine.com.au – including one woman who was preparing to kill herself before she gained access to the drug – say the treatment has turned their lives around.
NSW
Health Minister Brad Hazzard said on Wednesday that the state
government has committed $21m towards "world-first medicinal cannabis
trials and reforms…"
"We are pursuing a medical model in NSW. This is what will give some of our sickest patients the best hope."
9Honey
has reached out to Mr Hazzard, who was named in Ms Cooper's petition
alongside NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Prime Minister Malcolm
Turnbull, and is currently awaiting a response from NSW Health and the
Centre for Medicinal Cannabis Research and Innovation.
In a statement provided to 9Honey,
the NSW Office of the Chief Scientist and Engineer said that "in
recognising that there is not currently a safe, ready supply of
locally-produced medicinal cannabis products, the Commonwealth Minister
for Health announced last month measures to enable the controlled
importation by approved providers of product from international sources.
This will facilitate faster access by authorised prescribers for
patients with the necessary approvals.
"Both NSW Health and the
Centre for Medicinal Cannabis Research and Innovation are available to
support practitioners interested in prescribing medicinal cannabis
products and have already been working with some interested clinicians."
Source:http://honey.nine.com.au/2017/03/31/10/19/illawarra-mum-pleads-for-access-to-medicinal-cannabis-to-treat-dying-eight-year-old-daughter/
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