Medicinal cannabis campaigner Vera Twomey says daughter Ava now pharma-free

Olivia Kelleher

Medicinal cannabis campaigner, Vera Twomey, who secured a licence for the medication for her ill daughter Ava Barry has said that the eight-year-old is now pharmaceutical free.

In a post on Facebook Ms Twomey says the youngster is solely being treated by medicinal cannabis CBD and THC.

"Ava has become officially pharma-free. We were scared and excited at the same time to know what it would bring.

"The last couple of photos of Ava I think speak for themselves and as it happens so does Ava as she is singing the beginning of nursery rhymes now more and more. Happy and healthy as we can be we move forward better and brighter and (with Ava) looking forward to getting back to school."

Meanwhile, Vera spoke in the House of Commons in London earlier this summer where she explained the benefits of the alternative medicine in treating conditions such as severe epilepsy.

Vera became friendly with British mother Hannah Deacon when they lived on the same street in Holland during a period where they were both "medical refugees."

She was in the Hague to receive medicinal cannabis for her daughter Ava while Hannah was also in the same position with her son Alfie Dingley.

Ms Twomey said the "exile for medical attention" continues in Holland for families from Ireland and the UK.

Ms Twomey, who is from Aghabullogue, Co Cork, rose to national prominence during a three-year campaign to secure access to medicinal cannabis to treat Ava’s rare form of epilepsy, called Dravet Syndrome.

Her campaigning included two 260-kilometre walks from Cork to the Dáil to capture the government’s attention to Ava’s struggle.

Ava Twomey

She also mounted a very successful social media campaign and she and husband Paul had to live abroad with Ava to guarantee supply of her THC cannabis.

Vera says she continues to campaign for others around Ireland who are in need of medicinal cannabis.

She recently climbed Croagh Patrick along with Noreen O'Neill from Kerry who is hoping to get a licence for medicinal cannabis for her two-year-old son Michael.

Michael has a neurological condition called bilateral frontal polymicrogyric. He has too many folds on the frontal lobes of his brain and experiences seizures.

Noreen has set up a petition seeking the legalisation of medicinal cannabis.

The petition can be accessed https://www.change.org/p/simon-harris-minister-for-health-simon-harris-legalise-medicinal-cannabis-in-ireland-nowhere.