Relief may soon be on the way for a Clarkesville girl struggling with epilepsy. 9-year old Ava Fowler got her cannabis oil card Monday, four months after Gov. Nathan Deal legalized medicinal use of the drug in Georgia. Fowler, who lobbied heavily for legalization alongside her mother during this year’s state legislative session, was all smiles as she posed with her card yesterday. But it wasn’t just her smile that spoke to the camera, the back of her shirt did, too. In big, bold black letters it read, “We Did It.”
Read Fighting for Ava
Ava’s mom, Sarabeth Fowler, says her daughter could receive her first dose of cannabis oil (a derivative of marijuana) this week. It can’t come too soon for the Clarkesville Elementary School student. Fowler says her daughter has suffered “lots of seizures” recently. “It’s been a hard transition back to school,” she says.
Ava’s fight with epilepsy and the legal system first came to light when the Fowlers shared their story with Now Habersham last year. At the time, they recruited State Representative Terry Rogers (R-Clarkesville) as an advocate and he joined other lawmakers under the Gold Dome in successfully pushing the legalization bill through this past spring.
Read A Victory for Ava
The Fowlers attended the ceremony when House Bill 1 (HB1) was signed into law on April 16, 2015. They’ve since fulfilled the last four months of their one-year state residency requirement. Now, with all that they’ve fought for firmly in hand, another, much shorter wait in their journey begins – the wait to find out if cannabis oil will succeed where traditional medications have failed.
Click here to follow Ava’s progress on her Facebook page “Ava’s Adventure Through Epilepsy”
