Vera Twomey finally gets cannabis treatment for her daughter

The mum who walked from Cork to Dublin (twice) and who fought endlessly for her daughter has finally found little Ava the treatment she needs.

Six-year-old Ava who suffers from a form of epilepsy called Dravet Syndrome has begun treatment in Holland where she is currently staying with her family. Doctors looking over her care have administered medicinal cannabis for little Ava - the treatment her mum Vera has gone to all lengths to try and get here in Ireland. As medicinal cannabis is illegal here in Ireland, Vera was, as she put it in the past, “forced out of the country” to find adequate treatment for her little one and set up a GoFundMe page online to try and cover travel and living costs while abroad. The mum from Cork also spoke to us here at HerFamily while on the way to doctors to receive Ava's very first treatment with both CBD and THC. Vera told us,

"We're beyond ecstatic. Ava had another seizure this morning and for the first time in her life we have a genuine hopeful prospect that carefully monitered medication will stop our daughters seizures. That has a significant success rate in children with Dravet Syndrome." "We have encountered doctors, nurses, paramedics and ordinary people outside of the medical profession in Holland, who are confused an appalled that a little girl with this condition cannot access something as successful as medicinal cannabis in her own country. Every person I have met has wished us luck and believes that we have a very good chance at successfully reducing the seizures."

Mum Vera also explained that Ava began receiving just the CBD treatment by itself last October, and was told by her daughter's school that Ava had achieved more in three months than she had in two whole years in school while taking just this part of the treatment. Vera also took to Facebook to talk about her daughter's treatment and thanked everyone for their support while also urging the rest of us to campaign for medicinal cannabis legalisation here at home to prevent other children having to suffer the same way Ava has.