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
To: stormcrow
I've put the List on the cloud! Click the link to download the new
2016 Granny Storm Crow's List!
https://1drv.ms/b/s!AkiTiWAuHrKLbx7-n63PHKx_T9I
Just opening the link will show you the List, but you will need to
download it to access the very useful Navigation Index. Click the
"Bookmark" icon if it doesn't automatically show up. No more scrolling
"forever" to get to that study you want! It may take a minute or so
to download- it's over 3,300 pages!
The first section of the List is over 475 pages of links to news
articles, so you won't need a PhD to use the List. Reading a news
article about something first, really makes understanding the actual
medical study much easier!
The second section is devoted to the more recent medical studies and
articles from 2010 to the beginning of August 2016. For people
seriously looking into cannabis and the cannabinoids, this will likely
be the most useful section for a lot of you.
Further down are the older studies that go into detail about some of
the basic questions (how long to hold a hit, storage of cannabis,
effects on hormone levels, etc). The older studies also tend to be
easier to understand, so they are a good place to begin your
education.
At the very bottom is a small mini-dictionary of words you will run
across in the studies. You might even want to print up a copy of it just
as a handy reference until you get used to all of the "Sci-speak"!
And take your Omega 3! It is needed to properly make the CB receptors
that the cannabinoids (like THC and CBD) activate to get you "high",
and also, more importantly, heal you. You want lots of working CB
receptors, and not just for the better "high" that daily use of Omega
3 can bring after a month or two!
And one last thank you to "Old Hippie" (of the "Beyond Chronic" blog)
for his invaluable technical help in getting this List out to all of
you! "Nugs and Hugs" to you, my friend!
I hope you enjoy my List,
Granny
Current
arthritis treatments often have side-effects attributable to active
compounds as well as route of administration. Cannabidiol (CBD)
attenuates inflammation and pain without side-effects, but CBD is
hydrophobic and has poor oral bioavailability. Topical drug application
avoids gastrointestinal administration, first pass metabolism, providing
more constant plasma levels.
METHODS:
This
study examined efficacy of transdermal CBD for reduction in
inflammation and pain, assessing any adverse effects in a rat complete
Freund's adjuvant-induced monoarthritic knee joint model. CBD gels (0.6,
3.1, 6.2 or 62.3 mg/day) were applied for 4 consecutive days after
arthritis induction. Joint circumference and immune cell invasion in
histological sections were measured to indicate level of inflammation.
Paw withdrawal latency (PWL) in response to noxious heat stimulation
determined nociceptive sensitization, and exploratory behaviour
ascertained animal's activity level.
RESULTS:
Measurement
of plasma CBD concentration provided by transdermal absorption revealed
linearity with 0.6-6.2 mg/day doses. Transdermal CBD gel significantly
reduced joint swelling, limb posture scores as a rating of spontaneous
pain, immune cell infiltration and thickening of the synovial membrane
in a dose-dependent manner. PWL recovered to near baseline level.
Immunohistochemical analysis of spinal cord (CGRP, OX42) and dorsal root
ganglia (TNFα) revealed dose-dependent reductions of pro-inflammatory
biomarkers. Results showed 6.2 and 62 mg/day were effective doses.
Exploratory behaviour was not altered by CBD indicating limited effect
on higher brain function.
In
addition to the well-known palliative effects of cannabinoids on some
cancer-associated symptoms, a large body of evidence shows that these
molecules can decrease tumour growth in animal models of cancer. They do
so by modulating key cell signalling pathways involved in the control
of cancer cell proliferation and survival. In addition, cannabinoids
inhibit angiogenesis and decrease metastasis in various tumour types in
laboratory animals. In this review, we discuss the current understanding
of cannabinoids as antitumour agents, focusing on recent discoveries
about their molecular mechanisms of action, including resistance
mechanisms and opportunities for their use in combination therapy. Those
observations have already contributed to the foundation for the
development of the first clinical studies that will analyze the safety
and potential clinical benefit of cannabinoids as anticancer agents.
Preliminary lab studies at the Salk Institute find THC reduces beta amyloid proteins in human neurons
LA JOLLA–Salk Institute scientists have found
preliminary evidence that tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and other compounds
found in marijuana can promote the cellular removal of amyloid beta, a
toxic protein associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
While these exploratory studies were conducted in neurons grown in
the laboratory, they may offer insight into the role of inflammation in
Alzheimer’s disease and could provide clues to developing novel
therapeutics for the disorder.
“Although other studies have offered evidence that cannabinoids might
be neuroprotective against the symptoms of Alzheimer’s, we believe our
study is the first to demonstrate that cannabinoids affect both
inflammation and amyloid beta accumulation in nerve cells,” says Salk
Professor David Schubert, the senior author of the paper.
Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive brain disorder that leads to
memory loss and can seriously impair a person’s ability to carry out
daily tasks. It affects more than five million Americans according to
the National Institutes of Health, and is a leading cause of death. It
is also the most common cause of dementia and its incidence is expected
to triple during the next 50 years.
It has long been known that amyloid beta accumulates within the nerve
cells of the aging brain well before the appearance of Alzheimer’s
disease symptoms and plaques. Amyloid beta is a major component of the
plaque deposits that are a hallmark of the disease. But the precise role
of amyloid beta and the plaques it forms in the disease process remains
unclear. David Schubert, Professor of Salk’s Cellular Neurobiology Laboratory
Click here for a high resolution image
Credit: Salk Institute
In a manuscript published in June 2016’s Aging and Mechanisms of Disease, the Salk team studied nerve cells altered to produce high levels of amyloid beta to mimic aspects of Alzheimer’s disease.
The researchers found that high levels of amyloid beta were
associated with cellular inflammation and higher rates of neuron death.
They demonstrated that exposing the cells to THC reduced amyloid beta
protein levels and eliminated the inflammatory response from the nerve
cells caused by the protein, thereby allowing the nerve cells to
survive.
“Inflammation within the brain is a major component of the damage
associated with Alzheimer’s disease, but it has always been assumed that
this response was coming from immune-like cells in the brain, not the
nerve cells themselves,” says Antonio Currais, a postdoctoral researcher
in Schubert’s laboratory and first author of the paper. “When we were
able to identify the molecular basis of the inflammatory response to
amyloid beta, it became clear that THC-like compounds that the nerve
cells make themselves may be involved in protecting the cells from
dying.”
Brain cells have switches known as receptors that can be activated by
endocannabinoids, a class of lipid molecules made by the body that are
used for intercellular signaling in the brain. The psychoactive effects
of marijuana are caused by THC, a molecule similar in activity to
endocannabinoids that can activate the same receptors. Physical activity
results in the production of endocannabinoids and some studies have
shown that exercise may slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.
Schubert emphasized that his team’s findings were conducted in
exploratory laboratory models, and that the use of THC-like compounds as
a therapy would need to be tested in clinical trials.
In separate but related research, his lab found an Alzheimer’s drug
candidate called J147 that also removes amyloid beta from nerve cells
and reduces the inflammatory response in both nerve cells and the brain.
It was the study of J147 that led the scientists to discover that
endocannabinoids are involved in the removal of amyloid beta and the
reduction of inflammation.
Other authors on the paper include Oswald Quehenberger and Aaron Armando at the University of California, San Diego; and Pamela Maher and Daniel Daughtery at the Salk Institute.
The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health, The Burns Foundation and The Bundy Foundation.
Alzheimer’s
Disease patients benefited from marijuana, Israeli researchers report.
Above, Julianne Moore in 2015’s ‘Still Alice’.
Adding marijuana to the treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease “is safe
and a promising treatment option”, Israeli researchers conclude, in the
latest study on the burgeoning practice.
Alzheimer’s Disease is a devastating and fatal degenerative
neurological disease affecting more than five million Americans today.
One in three seniors will die with Alzheimer’s or another dementia, and
Alzheimer’s is the sixth leading cause of death in the nation, costing
America about $203 billion in 2013.
Past studies
indicate the active ingredients in cannabis can provide palliative
relief to Alzheimer’s patients with dementia — calming them down and
allowing them to sleep. Cell studies also indicate cannabis’ active
ingredients could prevent the onset and progression of Alzheimer’s, by
interrupting the cycle of beta-amyloid plaque creation thought to cause
Alzheimer’s Disease.
Researchers at the Abarbanel Mental Health Center and the Sackler
Faculty of Medicine at Tel-Aviv University, in Israel, along with the
Department of Psychology, at Bar-Ilan University conducted one of the
first clinical studies of cannabis on human Alzheimer’s patients.
The main active ingredient in cannabis “tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is
a potential treatment for Alzheimer’s disease (AD)” researchers wrote.
They wanted to measure the safety and efficacy of giving a medical
cannabis oil containing THC as an add-on to existing Alzheimer’s drugs.
Their goal: relieving the terrifying behavioral and psychological
symptoms of dementia.
Eleven patients were recruited into an open-label, month-long trial.
Ten patients finished the trial, and researchers reported “significant
reduction” in mental illness severity, especially with regard to
delusions, agitation/aggression, irritability, apathy, sleep, and
caregiver distress.
“Adding [medical cannabis oil] to [Alzheimer’s Disease] patients’
pharmacotherapy is safe and a promising treatment option,” researchers
concluded.
Read: “Safety
and Efficacy of Medical Cannabis Oil for Behavioral and Psychological
Symptoms of Dementia: An-Open Label, Add-On, Pilot Study” Smell the Truth editor David Downs is the author ofThe Medical Marijuana Guidebook, out in paperback this February (Whitman Publishing).
Adding marijuana to the treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease “is safe
and a promising treatment option”, Israeli researchers conclude, in the
latest study on the burgeoning practice.