Medicinal cannabis gives epileptic Izla Meers new lease on life

Nine-year-old Izla Meers has had up to 300 seizures a day for most of her life. But she’s now been seizure-free for 12 months, with her mother crediting her improvement to the legal use of medicinal cannabis.

Kym Meers with her daughter Izla, 9, at their Exeter home. Picture: Matt Turner

• 109 South Australians receive medicinal cannabis prescription

A year ago, young Izla Meers’ every day was a nightmarish onslaught of hundreds of crippling seizures that left her devastated and scarred.

Today, the nine-year-old, who was diagnosed with a severe form of epilepsy as a baby, is celebrating 12 months without a seizure – a miracle that her mother, Kym Meers, credits to twice-daily doses of medicinal cannabis.

“You couldn’t believe how life-changing it’s been. She’s gone through so much in the last nine years, so for her to be at this stage is just amazing,” says Ms Meers, who lobbied state and federal government to make the controversial medication available to her daughter.

Today, Izla, from Exeter, takes 1.1ml of cannabidiol oil, or CBD, prescribed by her paediatrician, morning and night.

The medicine is supplied by South Australian compounding pharmacy GD Pharma.

The cannabidiol oil which Izla takes twice a day. Picture: Matt Turner

Ms Meers says the medicine has stopped the traumatic seizures and means her energetic daughter is “finally free to be herself again”.

It hasn’t come cheap – Ms Meers estimates she’s spent more than $10,000 since December 2017 — but says it’s been worth every cent.

“She’s able to be her own self. She’s able to be a child who’s not whacked by seizures every day – she’s able to have a life,” Ms Meers says.

“She’s able to go to school without being asleep on the carpet or asleep on the couch because the seizures have zapped all her energy.”

The seizures – up to 300 a day, or the equivalent of one every five minutes – have left their mark. Izla has autism and an intellectual disability which Ms Meers says were triggered by the almost-constant seizures.

But now Izla, who has a severe form of epilepsy called West syndrome, is bursting with energy.

She has been able to join disabled basketball and dancing teams – everyday achievements Ms Meers never thought possible for her daughter.

Before discovering CBD oil, Izla endured years of trying “every type of medication under the sun”.

About four years ago, Ms Meers discovered medicinal cannabis. She became convinced she wanted her daughter to try it – but only if it was legal. “As the mother of a daughter with West’s syndrome, you spend a lot of time researching medication,” she says.

“I spent about four years fighting for legal access because I didn’t want to get it illegally – one, because I didn’t want to break the law, and two, because you don’t know what you’re getting.”

That fight included lobbying state and federal governments to legalise its use and for Izla to get a place on a medical trial into medicinal cannabis – something that’s still yet to happen in SA.

The prescription of medicinal cannabis was legalised by the Federal Government in 2016, but Ms Meers did not receive her first bottle until December 29, 2017.

“Izla’s able to take a bigger dose than what she does at the moment but it’s simply not affordable for us to do that,” Ms Meers says.