We at ECHO would like to wish our friend and ECHO family member Sadie Higuera a happy birthday! Sadie reached a significant milestone earlier this month when she turned four years old.
Sadie is the daughter of Brian Higuera, one of ECHO’s three Board of Directors. Ever since Sadie’s health has improved with cannabidiol (CBD) hemp oil, Brian and his wife Damaris have been passionate advocates for the benefits of medical cannabinoids.
Born with a rare congenital neurodegenerative disorder called Schinzel-Giedion syndrome, Sadie wasn’t expected to live beyond age two. As an infant, she suffered frequent life-threatening seizures and had several tumors growing throughout her body. Medications were not only ineffective, but they produced severe side effects. With doctors telling Brian and Damaris there was nothing else they could do, the parents searched for alternative options and found non-psychoactive CBD hemp oil.
That was more than three years ago.
Today, Sadie’s tumors are completely gone now and she no longer experiences grand mal seizures. While she may have one or two seizures per week, they are smaller and last less than a minute. When Brian or Damaris put a few drops of the CBD hemp oil on her tongue, they stop.
“She’s more alert,” Damaris recently told the San Diego Tribune.
“Just amazing how she responds to music now, (and) her sisters,” said Brian. “You can tell when she tries to think – she focuses.”
Sadie is administered CBD hemp oil and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in a 1:1 ratio every day. Last May, Sadie was able to start attending a special needs preschool.
“It’s a big blessing,” said Damaris.
To celebrate Sadie’s May 4 birthday, Brian and Damaris took Sadie and her sisters to one of Sadie’s favorite places — Rosarito Beach.
“She comes alive and smiles,” said Brian. “Sadie has definitely given her life meaning and showed us the way. We’re just following her cue.”
Brian has said that with what he knows now, CBD would not be the last choice. “It would be my first,” he said. “I really feel for those families in states where they can’t have access to it.”
In an effort to help similar families, the Higueras have reached out to the Make-A-Wish Foundation in hopes of setting up a meeting with Donald Trump to advocate for access to cannabinoid-based products.
You can learn more about Sadie, as well as other children who have found relief with CBD, by visiting ECHO Families. We also recommend these articles:
- Want to Know How to Get CBD? Here are Your Options
- Children and CBD
- Is CBD Oil Legal?
- Researchers to Investigate Whether CBD Can Help Treat Children’s Tumors
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