Coming Home for Christmas: Vera Twomey finally secures medical cannabis license for her daughter

• Vera Twomey has finally secured a medical cannabis license for her young daughter, Ava Barry, who suffers from severe epilepsy
• Ava has been forced to flee to Holland where she could legally access medical cannabis
• Before cannabis, Ava was suffering 100s of epileptic seizures a week
• “We’ll be home for Christmas and she’s doing really, really well.”

Vera Twomey has finally won the right for her daughter to legally access medical cannabis in her own home country, Ireland.

Ava Barry, 7, from Aghabullogue, a small village of in Cork, suffers from a rare form of epilepsy called Dravet Syndrome, which could leave the young girl suffering hundreds of seizures a week. Since moving to Holland, and gaining legal access to full-extract cannabis oil (containing THC), the number of seizures Ava was experiencing vastly decreased, from up to 500 a month to less than 10.

Ava has also learned how to speak and read since beginning cannabis treatment.

Vera made the announcement live on her Facebook last night:

“I just want to let you know that we have some really, really, good news that Ava has been granted the licence for the medical cannabis and we’re coming home.”
– Vera Twomey

Discussing the announcement, an ecstatic Vera declared:

“I just want to let you know that we have some really, really, good news that Ava has been granted the licence for the medical cannabis and we’re coming home.

“I just wanted to thank everyone for their support, and we’ll be home for Christmas!”

Ireland’s Minister of Health, Simon Harris, who for so long denied the young girl the right to a choice in her medication, confirmed that he finally granted a licence for Ava:

“I’m very pleased I was in a position to sign another licence for a citizen in this country, a little girl, to access a medicinal cannabis product.

“It’s the third licence since becoming minister for health. All licences that have been validly submitted with the support of a monitoring consultant in Ireland have been granted.” We have been covering Vera and Ava’s inspiring journey over the past year.

The courageous mother has done everything in her power to attain a medical cannabis license for her daughter.

From walking 260km from Cork to Dublin to raise awareness of Ava’s condition, to being forced to break up her family by moving to Amsterdam to gain legal access to the only medication proven to work for her young daughter, Vera has truly worked hard to raise awareness of Ava’s condition and how medical cannabis helps her.

While Ava is only the third patient to be granted a license for medical cannabis containing THC in Ireland, there is a growing hope that more patients will be able to attain the same license.

Vera’s high-profile campaigning undoubtedly helped win over the hearts and minds of the Irish public, in turn helping to force Simon Harris’ hand at granting the license.

Ava’s story can be followed on her official Facebook page, ‘Hope for Ava’.