For 8-year-old Mia Wilkinson, medical marijuana is the only thing that helps her handle her severe epileptic seizures. Her first seizure occurred just 20 minutes after birth - and she could have up to hundreds of seizures per day.
Her mother, Sarah Wilkinson, explained to CTV News that her daughter takes a liquidised form of marijuana through a dropper.
"I didn't think it would work. I thought she was too rare… and I just thought, it's not going to work.
"But, immediately, it worked."
"This needs to be researched so it can potentially be offered to other children."
Sarah added that, while she is aware that the marijuana oil is a controversial method, she would prefer to stop her daughter's suffering - even for a short while - than conform to the opinions of others:
"I am not naive to the fact that I will bury my child. But to watch them suffer, in seizures, every day… and then have to bury them? It's unimaginable."
Interested parents began to contact Sarah via a Q&A thread on Reddit, where she fielded their questions and offered a realistic insight into the benefits - and negatives - of marijuana oil.
She said: "At first she was a bit sleepy [using the marijuana], other than that [the effects] really has only been positive. She's on a normal sleep schedule finally, seizures are well controlled, she developing... I can't complain."
She also added that using marijuana oil meant her daughter did not have to use all the other medications she had been prescribed:
"We were able to wean all medication. She has been on phenobarb, phenytoin, fosphenytoin, vigabatrin, clonazepam, clobazam (onfi), midazolam, ativan, topiramite, keppra, tegretol, lamictal, ketamine.... I know I'm forgetting some but a lot."
Speaking about the effect the drug could have on her daughter's brain, she said: "She is severely disabled as you can see in the video so no I am not concerned about the effects of marijuana on her brain.
"In fact, she has started saying mum (getting a friend to convert that file, I have it on video). There are a few studies that suggest it does drop approximately 5 IQ points to a developing brain but lets be honest, these children are not going to become physicists. It's about quality of life.
"I do NOT let my 8 year old daughter smoke weed. I use a coconut oil infusion and given the choice between cannabis and ketamine quite frankly if smoking were her only option I would. Thankfully I don't have to do that."
Dr. Keith Sharkey from the Hotchkiss Brain Institute at the University of Calgary says "there are roughly 500 compounds in marijuana and that's the problem, if you will, with herbal remedies of this nature …that it's very difficult to sort out what an individual compound is doing”.
The Calgary neurologist who treats Mia wants her to have a DNA test that is only available in the U.S., but so far the family hasn’t been able to get public funding. The hope is that DNA may provide some further answers about Mia's rare form of epilepsy
Sarah Wilkinson has now launched an online fundraising effort to pay for tests and research. You can sign up here.