Recently, 12-year-old Rylie Maedler spoke on the stage at CannaTech Sydney, the inaugural Australian cannabis industry conference.
Rylie was responsible for gaining legislative support for the law now known as Rylie’s Law, legalising the use of medicinal cannabis in children in Delaware, USA.
When seven-year-old Rylie lost a tooth and went to show her mother, her world was turned upside down. After noticing that all of Rylie’s teeth were misaligned and loose, a visit to a doctor revealed an aggressive form of cancer. Rylie’s bones were being eaten away by tumours.
“The tumours had eaten away at my palate maxilla, sinus, left cheek and the bottom of my eye orbit. My teeth were stitched into my gums and I was warned they wouldn’t live. Then I started having seizures.”
After a tumour debulking surgery to remove as much tumour and surrounding bone as possible, Rylie’s mum decided that cannabis oil could help her heal. “After my post-surgical scan, I started taking cannabis oil and saw results in my pain and swelling right away,” Rylie said.
“We also saw tumour shrinkage on my follow up scan only a few months after starting cannabis. I still get regular bone and brain scans to check if there is any reoccurrence and will continue to get these until I’m an adult.”
Rylie is now a normal, healthy and tumour free advocate for the use of medicinal cannabis in children. “After seeing what cannabis did for me I wanted to help other children get access to it.
“I had to convince a lot of people who were against it and who didn’t understand that it could help children who were sick. I got to spend time with each one of the 63 legislators and talk to them about their concerns.”
Rylie’s Law got unanimous votes in both the senate and the house of representatives and she continues to campaign for greater freedom in the use of medicinal cannabis through her charity, Rylie’s Sunshine.
