On July 7th 2003 our family was blessed with a special gift from God. Sydney Michelle Wages was birth into this world weighing 6 lbs 8 oz. But we didn’t know at the time the journey we were about to undertake. As every birth of a child, this was no different, all were so excited — especially her older sister Josie.

Through the next coming months all was well till shortly after her DTaP vaccination. That’s when our life was turned upside down. Sydney ran a high fever and had her first seizure. Paramedics were called and they assured us all this will be ok due to the high fever. Sometimes people have what is referred to a febrile seizure. Sydney was four months old at this time. Only two short months later our Hell started. Sydney went into status epilepticus. Her seizure lasted for 45 minutes plus. This time she was air lifted to Scottish Rite Children’s Hospital in Atlanta. This was one of the the most trying times of our lives. When we put Sydney on that helicopter we didn’t know if we were going to see our baby alive again. We were numb. But all came out well as could be expected. After a trip to the neurologist they gave the words that no parent wanted to hear. Epilepsy. What do we do? How do we deal with this? Is there a cure? All of these questions run thru our minds. No, there is no cure, you deal with the symptoms, seizures.

After seven different failed medications countless EEG’s, and six more helicopter trips, blood work, spinal taps. We found that Sydney was not a candidate for brain surgery. We felt that this was a blessing. We didn’t want her going through more undue trauma than she needed. We asked the doctor do we try another medicine? After one failed medicine try another, after two, try again, after three chances are no medicine is going to work. After years of trying all failed her. At the age of 2 ½ she got yet another hurdle to climb, Autism. My God when is it going to stop? My baby has suffered enough. That’s when I as a dad was humbled. Dads are supposed to fix anything. I soon found out this was far from my control. That’s when I sought a higher power. I poured my heart out to God and gave it to him. This was the turning point of Sydney’s life. We were led to the holistic approach using God ‘s medicine.

In August of 2013 we watched a documentary on a little girl in Colorado that was taking an oil from the cannabis plant. As we watched with tears in our eyes, my wife and I agreed that this is Sydney’s ticket to the life she has never had. The active chemical is CBD. We set out to find CBD for our child. We found that cannabis was a category 1 controlled substance and it was not available outside certain states, but that hemp oil containing CBD was. We then, with the help of Sydney’s naturopathic doctor, found it.

Sydney has been taking Hemp Oil for about 6 months now and when you can finally embarrass your child this was huge. Sydney is showing more emotion and will respond to things she never has before. But the hemp oil doesn’t have the chemical makeup as cannabis oil. It shouldn’t be left up to your zip code to be able to access medicine for your child. This is America not some third world country. We just want Sydney to have the same chance in life as any other child. Her sister wants her to run and play. We just simply want to hear her say “I LOVE YOU.” Our child has never had the chance to do this due to all of the countless medications that suppress her brain function. We would love to tell a story of “back when Sissy didn’t talk” And one day we will.

Sydney is a special gift from God and we now realize that. We are the chosen parents. She has shown us unconditional love. Her smile lights up any room. We had a gentleman tell us one time “ This baby is going to have a powerful voice one day.” We now know that and she hasn’t even spoken a word. This is GOD’s weed. This is what’s going to give our daughter back to us. This will make this journey so much sweeter in the end. All we ask is to remember Sydney in your prayers. This is one of the Faces of Cannabis.
http://faceofcannabis.wordpress.com/2014/06/24/sydney/