Cannabis Oil To Be Used In Hospital For The First Time Ever—On A 2-Month-Old Baby

Credit: The Free Thought Project
Credit: The Free Thought Project


Imagine bringing your newborn baby home within days of giving birth—only to have her experience a terrifying seizure after just one day at home. This is what happened to the Nunez family from New Mexico last December when they brought their baby daughter, Amylea, back home. As if that weren’t enough, without medication, their daughter now experiences over a dozen seizures per day.

Nicole, Amylea’s mother, told KRQE News that,

“She has a rare form of epilepsy. They don’t know exactly the type.”

Since the hospital in New Mexico was not able to identify the type of epilepsy or properly treat their daughter after two months of trying to treat her condition, the couple decided to go to Colorado to seek more help. Amylea started receiving care from the Children’s Hospital in Aurora, Colorado in the form of a drug cocktail that has adverse side effects. Her father, Ernie, says that the cocktail is bad for her liver and that they began looking for an alternative treatment that is better for her body.

This is how they came to the decision to try cannabis oil, which has been used on countless other children in the past with positive results. The exact strain is called Charlotte’s Web, named after a young girl named Charlotte who used the strain to treat her epilepsy; the use of the oil saved her life. Charlotte and her family underwent years of other failed treatments and diets before reaching the decision to use and getting the approval for the medical marijuana. Her miraculous recovery from having 300 grand mal seizures to having only 2-3 per month primarily in her sleep speaks volumes and has inspired many other families to try the natural drug on their children.

Credit: The Times Magazine
Credit: The Times Magazine

Since Amylea needs to stay in the NICU at the Children’s Hospital, her parents needed to convince the hospital to let them bring the cannabis into the hospital and treat her. Nicole said that she spent probably “a good three weeks” trying to persuade the hospital before they finally agreed. Though it’s allowed on the grounds, the doctors are not allowed to administer the treatment, so the Nunez parents are treating Amylea themselves in the NICU.

Though she has only received a few doses, the nurses have noticed a positive change in Amylea, saying that she seems to be more alert. According to the family, Amylea is the first and youngest patient to ever receive treatment with cannabis oil in a hospital.

The American Epilepsy Society reported their findings on a recent study of the use of cannabis oil on children and young adults with treatment-resistant epilepsy and found that 45% of subjects experience a significant reduction in the amount of seizures they had. 9% of patients were reportedly seizure-free after just 3 months of treatment.

Cannabis oil as a medical treatment is highly controversial because marijuana is federally classified as a Schedule 1 drug. Cannabis oil used for medicinal purposes has a low amount of THC, which is the psychoactive part of the drug, and a high amount of CBD (Cannabidiol), so that those being treated with it aren’t actually experiencing a high.

The Nunez family hopes that this treatment is effective for their daughter, and they are fortunate to have found this option for treatment so early in Amylea’s life. Her stay at the NICU and the family’s constant commute from New Mexico, where they live, to Colorado is costly so they have set up a GoFundMe page if you are interested in helping this family out.

What do you think of the parents’ decision to use this drug on their daughter? Comment your thoughts below and share this article!


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