Child’s father said seizures were a daily nightmare before the medical marijuana treatment. But medical experts question risks of treating children with the drug.
By Victoria Cavaliere / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Tuesday, December 11, 2012, 8:57 AM
Jayden David's seizures have been reduced, and his life is far more normal, now that he's medicated with a form of liquid marijuana, his father Jason said.
A six-year-old California boy who suffers severe seizures that leave him shaking on the ground and crying for help has finally found some relief, his family says.
Jayden David now takes a dose of medical marijuana.
"He's in pain and suffering and crying," father Jason David said. "You can't help him no matter what. What are you supposed to do? You have to do whatever it takes to save their life."
Jayden’s seizures were an almost daily nightmare, David told CNN. His son’s life was so crippled by the violent shaking caused by Dravet's syndrome, a rare form of epilepsy, he couldn't walk or eat solid food and he had been rushed to the hospital in their hometown of Oakland more than 40 times.
Jayden was even taking 22 pills a day, though nothing improved his condition.
So last year, David gave his son a liquid form of marijuana, which is legal for some medical purposes in California. The results were dramatic, David said.
For the first time since he was four-months-old, Jayden can now make it through a day without a seizure, his father said.
In the past year he has been able to walk, run, swim and play with other children.
His father has also begun to take Jayden off the two dozen anti-seizure pills he had been prescribed, believing they might have kept the boy from developing properly, CNN reported.
Harborside Health Center, a medical marijuana clinic in Oakland, California, said Jayden isn’t the only child patient they help.
Children with severe autism, epilepsy, ADHD and cancer can be helped by medicinal marijuana, executive director Steven DeAngelo said.
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