Ain't Nothing it Can't Fix...

[Joe Guy]

7-year-old gets medical marijuana to combat chemo

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A seven-year-old girl suffering from leukemia is one of Oregon's youngest medical marijuana patients.

Her mother says she gives her daughter marijuana pills to combat the effects of chemotherapy, but her father, who lives in North Dakota, worries about the effects of the drug on her brain development.

Mykayla Comstock was diagnosed with leukemia last spring. Her mother treats her with a gram of cannabis oil daily, The Oregonian reported.

Mykayla's mother credits the drug for the leukemia's remission. "As a mother, I am going to try anything before she can potentially fall on the other side," said Erin Purchase, 25, who with her boyfriend administers Mykayla's cannabis.

The girl says the drug helps her eat and sleep but also makes her feel "funny."

"It helps me eat and sleep," Mykayla said. "The chemotherapy makes you feel like you want to stay up all night long."

Mykayla's father, who is divorced from the girl's mother, was so disturbed by his daughter's marijuana use that he contacted child welfare officials, police and her oncologist. The father, Jesse Comstock, said his concerns were prompted by a visit with Mykayla in August.

"She was stoned out of her mind," said Comstock, 26. "All she wanted to do was lay on the bed and play video games."

Comstock, who works in a North Dakota oil field, pays child support to Purchase and covers Mykayla's health insurance. He said he observed strange behavior during an August visit and took Mykayla to a private lab, where technicians detected THC levels of an adult daily marijuana user.

Gladstone police contacted the girl's mother, examined Mykayla's medical marijuana paperwork, then told Comstock there was little they could do.

Comstock, who used pot in the past, said he doesn't object to people over 16 using medical marijuana. But he worries about his daughter's well-being and the potential for addiction.

"She's not terminally ill," Comstock said. "She is going to get over this, and with all this pot, they are going to hinder her brain growth.

"It's going to limit her options in life because of the decisions her mother has made for her," he added.

Oregon law requires no monitoring of a child's medical marijuana use by a pediatrician.

The law instead invests authority in parents to decide the dosage, frequency and manner of a child's marijuana consumption.

Many doctors worry about introducing a child to marijuana when they say other drugs can treat pain and nausea more effectively. Purchase believes marijuana heals, and credits the drug for curing her stepfather's skin cancer.

She herself is an Oregon medical marijuana patient, and her boyfriend is Mykayla's grower. She is so convinced of the drug's safety that she consumed it during the pregnancy and while breastfeeding her second child.

When her symptoms are especially bad, Mykayla's mother and her mother's boyfriend will feed her cannabis-infused food. She's had up to 1.2 grams of cannabis oil in 24 hours, the rough equivalent of smoking 10 joints.

Purchase said Mykayla's first oncologist called the marijuana use "inappropriate." She has not informed her new oncologist about the treatment.

With marijuana, Purchase said her daughter has been able to fight past the chemotherapy and return to a sense of normalcy.

"She's like she was before," her mother said. "She's a normal kid."

source

In my opinion, this mother is a certifiable nutcase.

[rubato]

7-year-old gets medical marijuana to combat chemo"...

"She's not terminally ill," Comstock said. "She is going to get over this, and with all this pot, they are going to hinder her brain growth.
... "

Why does he think leukemia isn't deadly?



yrs,
rubato

[Joe Guy]

7-year-old gets medical marijuana to combat chemo"...

"She's not terminally ill," Comstock said. "She is going to get over this, and with all this pot, they are going to hinder her brain growth.
... "

Why does he think leukemia isn't deadly?

Most childhood leukemia is curable. The father is being hopeful rather than giving up on his daughter for no good reason. The risk in this case does not outweigh the benefit.

The mother is a pothead and believes marijuana cures disease.

[Scooter]

The risk in this case is that the child will not be able to tolerate the chemotherapy. It sounds like the mother is going overboard with the MJ, but the father also sounds like a doctrinaire asshole that is putting his own prejudices over his daughter's wellbeing.

[Gob]

Her mother says she gives her daughter marijuana pills to combat the effects of chemotherapy, but her father, who lives in North Dakota, worries about the effects of the drug on her brain development.

I understand his concerns, and agree with them. Though I should imagine the leukaemia and chemo woudl be more dangerous to a 7 year old brain.

Though I stand to be corrected on that.

[Joe Guy]

The risk in this case is that the child will not be able to tolerate the chemotherapy. It sounds like the mother is going overboard with the MJ, but the father also sounds like a doctrinaire asshole that is putting his own prejudices over his daughter's wellbeing.

It seems to me that the father is genuinely concerned about his daughter's future health. It's bad enough that the child is going through chemotherapy, but having a mother who gives a gram of cannabis oil daily to her child, believes that it cures skin cancer and used it when she was pregnant and later nursing should be a major concern to any father.

[Scooter]

Her mother says she gives her daughter marijuana pills to combat the effects of chemotherapy

You must be using more marijuana than the kid if you read this to say that the mother believe it will cure her daughter's cancer.

[Joe Guy]

Her mother says she gives her daughter marijuana pills to combat the effects of chemotherapy

You must be using more marijuana than the kid if you read this to say that the mother believe it will cure her daughter's cancer.

I didn't say that the mother believes cannabis will cure her daughter's cancer, although she might believe that. And I guess you didn't read what I actually wrote and what I referenced from the article -

Many doctors worry about introducing a child to marijuana when they say other drugs can treat pain and nausea more effectively. Purchase believes marijuana heals, and credits the drug for curing her stepfather's skin cancer.

[Gob]

What Purchase believes, emphatically, is that cannabis heals.

Purchase said her stepfather's topical application of cannabis oil cured his skin cancer. She said an acquaintance's lung cancer went into remission after he used pot.

And Purchase herself consumes marijuana daily.

She said she became an Oregon medical marijuana patient in 2010 to treat vomiting from a metabolic problem and from her pregnancy with her second child. She is so convinced of the drug's safety that she consumed it during the pregnancy and while breastfeeding.

She was certain of one thing when Mykayla was diagnosed: The child would use marijuana to defeat cancer.

Purchase and Krenzler took Mykayla to The Hemp and Cannabis Foundation clinic in Southeast Portland, where a doctor looked over a letter from Mykayla's oncologist stating her diagnosis. The doctor asked about Mykayla's medications, her symptoms and how Purchase planned to give her daughter the drug.

Purchase said the physician "was pretty thorough."

If he had any concerns about Mykayla's age, Purchase said, he didn't mention them.

Ten days after her cancer diagnosis, Mykayla was an Oregon medical marijuana patient.

http://www.oregonlive.com/health/index. ... child.html

[Scooter]

Yes Joe, you caught me, I rarely read what you actually write because it usually involves being a judgmental prig about situations you couldn't possibly understand. Have you ever been through chemotherapy? Have you ever had someone close to you go through it? I have done both, and I honestly can't say which was more difficult. So no, I'm not going to condemn this mother for using a medically approved method to ease her daughter's suffering. And if the father is so concerned for his daughter's welfare, he can sue for custody and assume responsibility for medical decisions about her care himself. Let's see how well he deals with his daughter begging him for some way to stop feeling so completely miserable, and having him explain to her why his principles are more important than her welfare. The fact that he hasn't stepped up to the plate and sought custody when he so sincerely believes she is being harmed says it all.

[Joe Guy]

Yes Joe, you caught me, I rarely read what you actually write because it usually involves being a judgmental prig about situations you couldn't possibly understand.

I suppose that's the closest you'll ever come to admitting you were wrong. But stating that you rarely read what I write sure doesn't say much for your ability to give a good response to any opinion I've ever written. And speaking of being judgmental, that's exactly what you are doing now.

Have you ever been through chemotherapy? Have you ever had someone close to you go through it? I have done both, and I honestly can't say which was more difficult.

I'm fortunate that I've never needed to have chemotherapy. But my aunt and my brother both went through it not long ago and I watched them slowly die. It would have been suggested for my mother to go through it most recently (2011) if she had been younger but she preferred death.

So no, I'm not going to condemn this mother for using a medically approved method to ease her daughter's suffering.

I'm not condemning her for using an "approved method". I'm criticizing her for her choice of drug, and I believe her choice is strongly influenced by her belief that marijuana cures disease. And I believe that she's influenced by the drug itself.

And if the father is so concerned for his daughter's welfare, he can sue for custody and assume responsibility for medical decisions about her care himself. Let's see how well he deals with his daughter begging him for some way to stop feeling so completely miserable, and having him explain to her why his principles are more important than her welfare. The fact that he hasn't stepped up to the plate and sought custody when he so sincerely believes she is being harmed says it all.

I don't know where you're getting your information, but I don't see anything in the article that says the father is not actively trying to help his daughter or to gain custody of her. He seems to be concerned enough that he would like more authority regarding treatment decisions for his daughter's leukemia.

(please read this post and attempt to understand what I mean before responding. thanks)

[Gob]

Irony?

Second, there is a single case-control study that suggests a higher risk of leukemia among offspring exposed to cannabis in utero.$’ The study requires replication because it was not designed to test the
hypothesis that cannabis use was a risk factor for childhood leukemia; the finding emerged from a study of the causal role of other factors in which maternal drug use was measured as a covariate, and the rates of reported cannabis use in the control condition were much lower than has been reported in other studies.

In addition, there exists some evidence that mothers’ marijuana use during pregnancy increases the risk of their children developing childhood cancers, including non-lymphoblastic leukaemia, rhabdomyosarcoma (a rare, highly malignant tumour that can occur anywhere in the body), and astrocytoma (a type of brain tumour).

Maternal marijuana use before and during pregnancy has been associated with childhood AML and ALL. Despite a small sample size, findings from a Children’s Cancer Group study showed a 10-fold risk of childhood AML associated with maternal use of marijuana just before or during pregnancy (Robison et al. 1989). The authors concluded that, because marijuana has been shown to be a teratogen in animals and possibly humans, it may be leukomogenic, either alone or in combination with a cofactor.

[Lord Jim]

Okay, I'm going to go out on a limb here, and suggest that there is not one single person who has posted in this thread, (myself included) who can speak in any sort of authoritative way, regardless of their personal experience with chemo, (or anyone in their family who has undergone it) about the relative affects of it on a seven year old undergoing it in this situation, and what value medical marijuana may or may not have versus the negative affects...

I admit to being made uncomfortable by the fact that the mother, (with no medical expertise whatosever) is making these decisions...

Even if one accepts the validity of the value of medical marijuana conceptually, (which I'm prepared to do) that doesn't mean it's the best course in this situation....

[TPFKA@W]

My professional opinion? Gadzooks.

There has got to be a better answer for this child.

[Rick]

1.2 grams a day according to the OP that's equal to 10 hooters a day talk about chronic.

I don't care who ya are that's whacked...

[oldr_n_wsr]

"All she wanted to do was lay on the bed and play video games."

Sounds like a normal kid now-a-days.

Don't know anything about pot's affect on a 7yo brain, nor the dosage that it becomes "problematic". I do know that when my mom was undergoing chemo for lung cancer that I supplied her with pot and it helped her tremendously. She got her appetite back and didn't feel so crappy all the time.
Illegal at the time (still is) but it was worth the risk just seeing her feeling a little better.

[rubato]

"...

Most childhood leukemia is curable. The father is being hopeful rather than giving up on his daughter for no good reason. The risk in this case does not outweigh the benefit.

The mother is a pothead and believes marijuana cures disease.

The treatment of pediatric leukemias is a great success story for medicine. 40 years ago there were almost no effective treatments and now quite a lot of them are curable. A huge improvement.

__________________________
http://www.cancer.org/cancer/news/news/ ... nificantly
Childhood Leukemia Survival Rates Improve Significantly

Article date: March 27, 2012

By Stacy Simon

A new study shows that children with the most common type of childhood cancer, acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) have a survival rate of more than 90%. ALL accounts for about 3 out of 4 cases of childhood leukemia.

The research included more than 21,000 children with ALL, more than half the patients in the United States. They took part in the Children’s

Researchers from the University of Colorado Cancer Center found that the 5-year survival rate for children and adolescents with ALL improved from 83.7% for those diagnosed between 1990 and 1994, to 90.4% for those diagnosed between 2000 and 2005. In the 1960s, the 5-year survival rate was less than 10%. The survival rates increased for girls and boys of all racial and ethnic groups and for all age groups except infants under 1 year old. Improvements in survival for African-American patients with ALL were so significant, they narrowed the racial survival gap.

Researchers attribute the improved survival rates to clinical trials that helped doctors learn the best drugs and dosages to treat children with ALL. Survival rates for infants did not increase with improvements in drug use, they said, because more infants died from side effects of their treatment. The researchers are calling for more efforts to improve survival for all children with ALL.
..."
_________________________________

A 1 in 10 chance of dying sounds deadly enough for me.

But as far as palliative care, I think we should give people what makes them feel better rather than make them suffer to satisfy some perverse sense of morality.

yrs,
rubato