Issue link: https://cp.revolio.com/i/542735
That's when Murillo reached her limit. Her sister had shared an article about Charlotte's Web, and after some more research, the desperate Murillo started the paperwork with Realm of Caring, the nonprofit side of the Stanley brothers' operation. "I just thought, 'I've tried everything, and it's getting worse,' " says Murillo, who admits to voting against medical marijuana because of the stigma. While Benji's improvements might not seem momentous to some, for those who know him well, they're massive. His seizures are less intense and happen on average two or three times a day, his conventional medications have been cut by two- thirds, and he hasn't been hospitalized for his epilepsy since starting the oil, says Murillo, whose views on medical marijuana have changed. 'Forgotten Community' After her ex-husband was pulled over and threatened with arrest in Texas while trying to transport a first dose of hemp oil to their daughter, Ava, Lindsey Patton planned on a life of regular trips to Colorado to ship the medicine back home. Still technically illegal, taking the risk seemed to be the only answer. Ava was 2 years old but developmentally on par with a 2-month- old, her little body bombarded by seizures, medications and a host of other medical disorders. Before she started Charlotte's Web in March, she couldn't roll over, vocalize or hold her head up. "She didn't have seizures for a week," Patton says, explaining CW's immediate effect. In the weeks thereafter, Ava suffered only a couple of minor seizures and was more awake and responsive to voice, touch and music, her mother says. She was more vocal, her eyes would light up, and she would look around, says Patton, who was grateful for her daughter's new alertness. But the experience was short-lived. On Mother's Day, Patton found Ava unresponsive in her bed, and paramedics were unable to revive her only child. Although still grieving, Patton says she has no regrets about her choice to try Charlotte's Web, which she does not blame for Ava's death. "Given her medical past, it could have been one of 10 different things," says Patton, who decided against an autopsy. "I think her body just gave out." "The three months on Charlotte's Web were the best three months she ever had. I wanted her to experience happiness and comfort, and it brought her that mental and physiological peace." Lindsey Patton enjoys some time on Lido Beach in Sarasota, Fla., with her daughter, Ava, who had recently become more alert, even smiling, after receiving hemp oil for a seizure disorder. Shortly after this outing, Patton found her 2-year-old, who fought a number of other health issues, unresponsive in bed. Her little body "just gave out," her mother says. Ava died on Mother's Day 2015. Photo credit: Blueberi Photography 30