by Sheryll Alexander | May 5, 2016
In a last ditch effort to save
his life, 17-year-old Alexander “AJ” Kephart’s dedicated parents,
Sheila and Chris, decided to try out cannabis oil on their dying son
with miraculous results. Here’s one American family’s painful,
inspirational, devastating and heroic medical cannabis cures-cancer
story.
AJ’s super supportive father, Chris, admits his son’s story is
complicated–even doctors have a hard time understanding everything he is
now “missing” and how he’s been put back together (with titanium,
prosthetics and even a “cage” around his back after having three
vertebrae removed).
It all started in August 2012 when AJ noticed a persistent pain in
his knee. In January 2013, he was diagnosed as having bone cancer. Later
it was found that he also had stage four lung carcinoma as well.
That’s when AJ started chemotherapy. In May of the same year, his
entire knee was removed along with some bone in his thigh and calf. At
this point, doctors also found six tumors on all four of his lung
chambers. To keep his lungs from collapsing, AJ was kept in the hospital
for months hooked up to a breathing apparatus.
AJ was healing up when the cancer returned in 2014. He had his first
three vertebrae removed, his top two ribs and sections of his back
removed. The surgery itself even had to be stopped halfway as AJ was
losing the use of his nerves. He ended up having to wear a cage around
his body until the surgery could be completed a week or so later.
Just a few months after the spine surgery, AJ’s oncologist, Dr. Susan
Storch, informed Sheila and Chris that his left lung lobe was covered
with 20 plus cancerous tumors. They started chemo. Again.
That’s when they got the news: It’s time to “get your son’s things in
order,” said the doctors. They gave AJ only a month more to live.
In complete desperation, Sheila and Chris asked their doctor about
medical cannabis and its cancer-fighting effects. Dr. Storch agreed
cannabis oil would be a good “alternative” medicine to pursue along with
another series of chemotherapy sessions. She recommended cannabis
pioneer Dr. Bonni Goldstein.
In her Lawndale, California office, Dr. Goldstein explained how
cannabinoids–especially CBD–work by telling cancer cells to commit
suicide plus it stops the formation of new capillaries, which cancer
cells need to grow and spread. But even Dr. Goldstein had to admit AJ’s
case was going to be experimental as she has never before treated a
child with this particular cancer.
On the way home to Simi Valley, the Kepharts made a stop in Beverly
Hills to Tracy Ryan’s then new cannabis clinical built specifically for
children, CannaKids. “When we met AJ, he was super frail and was wearing
a neck brace. He was taking handfuls of pain medications daily. His
Mother Sheila was terrified and she looked like her soul had been ripped
out,” remembers Ryan, whose daughter Sophie was healed of a brain tumor
via cannabis oil.
In fact, AJ was in excruciating pain. His father Chris says AJ was
taking two of the following each day for pain: OxyContin, Norco, Tylenol
and Motrin. Without the pain killers, AJ would scream and cry in
horrendous pain whenever he was awake.
After five days on CBD and THC oils by CannaKids, Chris says AJ’s
pain has decreased so much that he was down to taking only one OxyContin
daily. “Wow,” he exclaimed when remembering this stress-relieving
moment for the whole family.
Because AJ had nothing to lose, his loving parents decided to speed
up the dosage process. Dr. Goldstein had recommended a three-month
process to increase the dosage, but Chris decided to fly at warp speed.
In two weeks, AJ was up to the highest dosage, but he was also tired
all the time and felt loopy. “No, son,” father Chris said to AJ, “you
are just stoned out of your mind.” Chris admits that this was a sad, but
comical moment for father and son.
Two months later, the Kepharts visited their oncologist who was
shocked that AJ looked much better and stronger. She also discovered his
white blood cell counts showed lots of improvement. Four months later, a
scan showed the multiple tumors on AJ’s lungs were completely gone.
Chris says Dr. Storch told them something like: “I can’t explain it.
There’s no reason for it. But your scan came back totally clear. There’s
no cancer. There’s no tumors in his lungs. It’s all gone.”
Since then, every scan has shown there’s no longer any cancer. “I believe cannabis is keeping him alive,” says Chris.
Very unfortunately, high dosage medical grade cannabis oil is
expensive and costs the Kepharts almost $2,000 a month to keep AJ cancer
and pain free. The stress this financial burden has put on the family
has even affected AJ’s mental health.
“He was freaking out about everything,” says Chris, who made sure to
provide AJ with a psychotherapist and as relaxing an environment as he
can provide given the extreme circumstances.
Today, AJ is still cancer free. He has completely stopped
chemotherapy after having more complications. He and his family are
seeking less expensive ways to get high-grade cannabis oils, but they
have yet to find a more affordable answer before this health crisis
literally puts the family in bankruptcy.
AJ’s very brave cancer survival story truly is a medical miracle and
another reason cannabis needs to be legalized and affordable for
everyone who needs it.
www.gofundme.com/ajkephart
http://ireadculture.com/boy-on-his-deathbed-is-cured-with-cannabis/
normally we do not post testimonials, but this one was especially touching
A
recent study conducted by Andras Biokei-Gorzo at the Institute of
Molecular Psychiatry at the University of Bonn in Germany is suggesting
that marijuana(or the activation of the brain’s cannabinoid system)
triggers the release of antioxidants, which act as a cleansing
mechanism. This process is known to remove damaged cells and improve the
efficiency of mitochondria. Mitochondria is the energy source that
powers cells. The study was published in Philosophical Transactions Of The Royal Society, B. You can read the entire study 
