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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — A girl with a rare form of epilepsy whose recovery inspired the name of a medical marijuana oil that drew families of children with similar health problems to Colorado for treatment has died, according to the non-profit organization founded by her mother.
No cause of death was given for Charlotte Figi, 13, in the Facebook announcement from the non-profit group Realm of Caring.
However, a post on her mother’s Facebook page said Charlotte was recently hospitalized because she had not recovered from a virus that had hit her whole family.
Calls to relatives and the foundation for additional details, and whether Charlotte had the coronavirus, were not immediately returned Wednesday.
“Some journeys are long and bland and others are short and poignant and meant to revolutionize the world. Such was the path chosen by this little girl with a catastrophic form of epilepsy called Dravet Syndrome,” the announcement from Realm of Caring said.
At age 5, Charlotte suffered as many as 300 grand mal seizures a week, used a wheelchair, went into repeated cardiac arrest and could barely speak.
With doctors out of ideas, her mother Paige Figi began calling medical marijuana shops. Her symptoms largely disappeared after she began taking an oil infused with a strain of marijuana with low THC, the drug's psychoactive ingredient.
The oil's name was changed to Charlotte's Web.
Her success led other families with children suffering from seizures to move to Colorado Springs before marijuana was more widely legalized in the United States.
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