Life & Style

Emotional family reunion as Irish mum and sons return home for good after spending a year in US for medical treatment

(Picture: C103)

THERE were emotional scenes in Cork Airport when a mum and her sons came home to Ireland from the US after a year of medical treatment.

Yvonne Cahalane, had been living in Colorado for the last year while her son Tristan underwent treatment with cannabis oil for his rare form of epilepsy, called Dravet Syndrome.

Dravet Syndrome occurs in infancy and seizures can be triggered by hot temperatures or fevers, the effects of which can be lessened with the treatment of medicinal cannabis.

Medicinal cannabis can also be used in the treatment for cancers, MS, chronic pain and other forms of epilepsy.

Last week, the Irish Government passed a bill in the Dáil allowing cannabis to be used in medical treatment in Ireland.

The legislation was passed by the chamber, on December 1, yet will still have to move through several stages of legal scrutiny before any products will be available.

Ireland will be set to join countries like Italy, the Czech Republic, Australia, and the US in relaxing its marijuana laws on medical grounds.

Irish mum Yvonne Cahalane began a petition on Change.org a year ago to the Minister for Health, Simon Harris.

In it, she lobbied for 'whole plant medicine,' which uses the full spectrum of therapeutic compounds cannabis has to offer.

"We have the greatest hope for Tristan having a future with this Whole Plant Medicine," she wrote,"it can help so many more and their conditions.

"I am a mama not a politician, but I have to put every prospect forward to show the value of this plant and have my child, Tristan, live a better life because of it."

Ms Cahalane left Ireland a year ago to get the medicinal cannabis treatment in Colorado with her two sons, Tristan and older brother Oscar, while husband John and their family stayed in Cork.

Earlier this year, Ms Cahalane updated their Change.org page to say that the trio were coming home, not just for Christmas but for good and that Tristan was thriving with his treatment, and seizure free for three months.

As the mother and sons made their way from the US to Cork, local Cork radio station C103 were on hand to capture the moment they were reunited with husband and father John, and the boys' grandparents.