A UK-based CBD company has pledged to donate all of its profits generated by sales using a special code to a child suffering from a rare form of epilepsy.
Green Active has launched a new campaign to help Murray Gray, 8, whose story is well-covered in the UK media. Murray’s mother, Karen Gray’s, battle with the government and the NHS has made some headlines over the years.
Murray was only two-years-old when he had his first Tonic-Clonic seizures. Murray’s seizures became increasingly frequent, going from 12 in December 2017, to 12 seizures a day in January 2018.
He was later diagnosed with Myoclonic atonic epilepsy (MAE), or as more commonly known Doose Syndrome – a rare form of epilepsy syndrome that accounts for only one to two out of 100 of all childhood-onset epilepsies. Murray was given several medicines and steroids, but none of them were able to help him.
In May 2018, Murray’s condition had escalated still further and he suffered 600 seizures in one day. While Ms Gray was campaigning for medicinal cannabis for his son, Murray eventually got a prescription in the UK for Epidiolex.
It is the first prescription CBD medicine on the market and is a CBD isolate. However, the drug didn’t really work either.
Ms Gray said: “He had to be tube-fed. This went on until March 2019. He was in a vegetative state, being pumped full of drugs that didn’t help seizures or status.
“He was out his face. It was upsetting to look at photos of him at that time as we were told it was the epilepsy and drugs that cause his eyes to roll to the top of his head.”
As her last resort, Ms Gray ended up bringing home full extract cannabis oil illegally from the Netherlands. It eventually turned out to be life-saving for Murray.
After that, a private paediatric neurologist was willing to prescribe cannabis oils legally. He has been given medicinal cannabis ever since.
Have you met Murray? This young man has had his life transformed by a medical cannabis prescription.
Join our campaign #ForMurray which enables us all to contribute to Murray's quality of lifehttps://t.co/UcFujYz51b pic.twitter.com/8tWG7LwljQ
— Green Active (@GreenActive6) November 4, 2020
Since 7 June 2019, Murray is seizure-free. According to reports, he’s no longer in a wheelchair and no longer needs to wear a protective hat. His speech is coming on, and he’s in full-time education and learning.
However, the family pays £1,400 a month to get cannabis oil from the Netherlands.
On their new campaign, #ForMurray, Green Active co-founder Jo Devall told Cannabis Health they wanted to help Ms Gray and Murray in their fight.
He said: “It’s frustrating to see that in the country we live in when there’s such astounding evidence to support the actions of these mothers and fathers, they are forced to source this exceptionally expensive medication.
“We are in a position where we can actually do something, so instead of just scrolling by, we’ve decided to take a stand.
“The ideal scenario is that it’s enormously successful, and we generate more money than needed for Murray and can move on to the next person. The bigger scope of what we want to do is bringing more and more awareness of what these families have to face.”
