CannaKids with Tracy Ryan

Sophie Ryan, daughter of Founder and CEO of CannaKids Tracy Ryan, inspired the birth of CannaKids. Sophie was diagnosed at 8 1/2 months old with an extremely rare brain tumor called an Optic Pathway Glioma; after using cannabis oil in combination with her chemo protocol, Sophie's tumor shrunk by over 95%, a tumor for which doctors said minimal shrinkage would be a best-case scenario. Doctors also said Sophie would have partial if not complete blindness with zero chance of saving her vision. After successfully keeping most of her vision intact, Sophie has become a medical miracle.

Tracy and her team at CannaKids have recently entered into collaboration with the Technion Institute in Israel where they are legally studying the effects of cannabinoids on many cancer types. CannaKids is sharing all of their patient data that they have been meticulously collecting. In addition to the research in Israel, CannaKids is in the planning phase with a major hospital in California and is expected to start in-hospital clinical trials on pediatric patients this year.

 

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About Janet


Blessed with varied interests and an artistic and musical upbringing, Janet had health challenges throughout her young adult life. Despite these she graduated Cum Laude from Wellesley College with an award of distinction for acting, and had also been a champion equestrian. She began a family with her husband Barry later in life, and had finally found happiness with daughter Sophie-Marie (3/12/06) and then baby (Jack 8/30/08). Five weeks after his birth, the family escaped a wildfire in which all worldly possessions were lost. The family relocated in December of 2008 to Agua Dulce CA where they currently reside.

Jack began to have unsettling symptoms at the age of 3; he was taken to Children's Hospital Los Angeles and was diagnosed with DIPG, or diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, on Friday Oct. 28, 2011, indisputably the darkest experience of Janet's life. The outrage of it made her determined to find the good in the situation, and she asked God to "Put me to work!" After Jack's death, she remained determined to start working to find solutions to DIPG and incorporated Jack's Angels at the end of 2012; the Foundation began its work in 2013. Despite the fact that DIPG is responsible for the majority of brain tumor deaths in children, she had been told there were no solutions for Jack because "the numbers aren't great enough for investors." This remains the primary motivation in her advocacy work, to prioritize children's lives in our medical system in the United States.