Potentially life-ending cancer in toddler treated with marijuana

1104 0

The child’s parents turned to cannabis after chemotherapy proved to be too dangerous

In 2014, three-year-old Cecilia von Harz was dealing with health issues that are every parent’s nightmare. She had cancerous tumors on her right lung and had already had a two-pound tumor removed from a kidney. She was still being submitted to chemotherapy, but doctors and her parents knew that continued chemo treatments would make her body even more fragile and could possibly end her life. In a last-ditch effort to save their daughter, Jaclyn and Jim von Harz made a risky decision. They began treating their toddler with marijuana.

Cecilia was given small doses of cannabidiol (CBD) oil to counter the chemotherapy after the tumor was found on her kidney. That helped, but she later developed the tumors on her lung. This time, Cecilia was given 400mg a day of both CBD and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) – without the chemotherapy. Three months later, the tumors had either diminished in size or were completely eradicated. She has had no signs of tumors since.

In a recent interview with People magazine, Cecilia’s father said, “She was just so emaciated. She’d lost all her hair, lost all her weight. There just wasn’t much of her left.” Her mother added, “When your child is sick, you get this instinctual feeling. I didn’t know that this would work, but I knew the other alternative would lead to death.”

Cecilia is now seven years old. She’s healthy, energetic and cancer-free. As her father asserted, “I was willing to break any rule, sacrifice my own life and my career for Cecilia — and I’d do it all again in a heartbeat.”