Maggie's Journey of Hope

My name is Maggie.  I am 17 years old and have an intractable seizure disorder/epilepsy.  I have had over 1600 seizures in my lifetime, with my first one at age 3 1/2 months.  I have been in and out of the hospital for tests and monitoring, evaluated for brain surgery, on the ketogenic diet, and tried every type of anti-seizure medication available.  I have a vagal nerve implant that sends impulses to my brain every 5 minutes to try to calm the electrical activity that causes my seizures, and yet nothing ever works. I am happy and fun to be around when I feel good-right now that is maybe 2 days a week.  The rest of the week I feel bad after having seizures, then I cannot sleep-my body trembles, I cannot eat, I cannot speak-I am miserable.  I do not make it to school or therapy, which I enjoy if I feel good.  My parents desperately want to take me to Colorado to try CBD oil/medical marijuana, that is legal there.  CBD/Cannabidiol is a non-psychoactive component of the marijuana plant, so it is an all natural treatment that is helping LOTS of kids-grown-ups too.  My mom and I would live there as medical refugees while we try this treatment option.  My dad and sister Katie, that I adore, would stay home.  I do not want to leave my best furry friends either-our family dog Charlie and cats Bobtail and Tiger.  We are all lifetime residents of Georgia-but have no choice but to relocate since our State did not pass the HB885 this past January making medical marijuana legal.  Please consider speaking up for this cause-as they are voting at our Capitol again in January 2015.  "Over the next several weeks, the Medical Cannabis Study Committee will be meeting all over the state to hear from families, law-enforcement officials, the medical community and medical cannabis experts about why, and how, to draft legislation in 2015 to legalize medical cannabis in Georgia.  You can find out more on this Facebook page for the Georgia Medical Cannabis Study Committee, or you can call my office.  We want to hear from citizens regarding this issue."  Allen Peake, House Majority Caucus Secretary/Treasurer, Georgia State Representative, District 141, Macon office number (478) [phone redacted] ext. 12, Capitol office number (404) [phone redacted], www.allenpeake.com    IF you are where you can help in any way, with our family's relocation (hopefully temporarily) we would be most grateful!!  Btw - this was written for me by my Mom as most days as most days I function developmentally on a 3 year old level-though ambulatory and verbal-I require constant supervision and companionship.  Beth Callaway