What is the most powerful force in the world?
Of course, it is love, but what kind of love? Not a single doubt – it is a parent’s love for their children.
One person, one mother that has proven this to be true is Heather Jackson, an international speaker, author and published researcher. She is also the co-founder and president of the Realm of Caring Foundation (RoC), a cannabis-focused non-profit that helps families struggling with life-limiting and chronic health conditions through research education and grants.
Worst Feeling On The Planet
Jackson's involvement in the cannabis sphere came unplanned. “I am a byproduct of the 'Just Say No' 1980s. I've always believed that cannabis was probably bad for you,” Jackson told Benzinga. Things changed when her son, Zaki was diagnosed with a rare form of childhood epilepsy, which caused him to have hundreds of thousands of seizures, eventually leading him into hospice palliative care.
Not only did prescription drugs not help his seizures, they produced “a poor quality of life and long-term side effect that never went away, like cataracts and bone loss.”
What he needed was a daily dose of CBD, and his seizures stopped.
“I was definitely helpless, but I was never hopeless,” Jackson said in an interview with the University of Colorado. “Our job as a parent is to protect our child, but with this, there is nothing you can do. It’s the worst feeling on the planet.”
After witnessing the healing power of CBD through Zaki’s successful treatment, Jackson wanted to help other families dealing with similar issues. She co-founded the Realm of Caring Foundation with just four families in 2012. One of them is Paige Figi, the mother of Charlotte Figi, the young girl from Colorado who helped spread the word about the benefits of CBD for those suffering from rare forms of epilepsy.
Charlotte became known worldwide after taking part in Dr. Sanjay Gupta's 2013 CNN documentary “Weed.” Charlotte, who had Dravet syndrome – a type of epilepsy that caused her to have hundreds of seizures a day – finally found relief …