Jilli Harmon, a happy 8-year-old who laughs and enjoys the company of her family, sometimes looks off into the distance and tilts her head slightly while she's playing. Her mom, Becca, would describe that as a small seizure, almost unrecognizable to the untrained eye.

Other times, the seizures take control, making her eyes roll back and her breath catch. They eventually bring her to crying. This can happen up to 40 times a day to children who have spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy with seizure disorder and developmental delays.

After countless medications, and a period off of them, the Harmons have found what they think could be a simple solution to Jilli's problem: Medical marijuana.

"We know it doesn't work for everyone, but there are some really amazing success stories, and it's really cool to see these kids come alive," Becca Harmon said. "The seizures really take them over.

"We just really want to find her some relief. We had a neurologist tell us a few years ago that the brain is so busy having seizures, that it can't do anything else.

She is non-verbal and doesn't feed herself, and if we could help her do any of that, if she could talk to us, even a few words, that would be life changing for us and her."

Charlotte's Web

One of the success stories to which Harmon refers is a young girl named Charlotte Figi, who was 3 months old when she had her first seizure and at 2 was diagnosed with Dravet Syndrome, which seldom allows children to grow into true adulthood.

After suffering for years and taking countless medications, Charlotte's seizures worsened at the age of 5. Her parents, Matt and Paige Figi, found themselves in the same situation as the Harmons - wanting to help their child by any means.

"I was serving in Afghanistan at the time and found a story about a family who had success with treating seizures with cannabis that was low in THC - the chemical that creates the high," Matt Figi said. "After trying different forms, we found the Stanley brothers in Colorado Springs who were breeding this low strain of the plant.

"Everyone was calling it the Hippie's Disappointment, and we found a solution."

The plants the Stanley brothers were breeding soon became known as Charlotte's Web after the young girl became almost seizure-free from using its medical elements.

After being sent an article about the Figis and seeing how similar her and Jilli's story was, Harmon began researching the medical marijuana.

"I had read some things about medical marijuana and hadn't really paid attention to it because it didn't apply to us," she said. "(Charlotte's) story made me pay closer attention to cannabis and I was very intrigued, but I knew we couldn't just go to Colorado and give her random marijuana oil.

"I knew it needed to be more structured than that, like what strains to use and the dosage amounts."

She also found the Stanley brothers and their organization, The Realm of Caring. The organization helps families not only with their medical conditions, but also with the cost.

"Before Realm of Caring, we would pay up to $800 for one batch and up to $2,000 a month," Figi explained. "With them, it's an affordable $150 a month."

Worth the wait

Despite the recent legalization of marijuana in Colorado, the Harmons can't drive across state lines pick up Charlotte's Web today.

"It's been a process, and we may not be able to start her on it until summer or early fall. It's a plant and there's a harvest, so we have to wait; it's not like a pharmaceutical drug that you can just get," Harmon said. "It's very important to the Stanley brothers and the Realm of Caring that once a child starts on the oil, they can provide it continually, because it is a medicine to them.

"They are very careful about all of it, and that's why we like them; they take it seriously."

Dr. Roby Mitchell of Amarillo, with whom the Harmons are working, explained the breakdown of the different levels found in marijuana and how it can help children like Jilli.

"Cannabidiol is an ingredient that is found in the marijuana plant, one of many. There are 70 that we know about, and they are called cannabinoids. Cannabidiol, we have found, is very potent in helping seizures," he said.

"These brothers in Colorado have found a way to hybridize the marijuana plant to where it contains little to no THC, which is the psychoactive component that gives you the high," Mitchell said. "So that is why all these families who have children with seizures are flocking to Colorado."

The brothers provide the marijuana to nearly 300 patients and have a waiting list of 2,000, according to the Associated Press. The Harmons are one of those families.

"You can't just go to Colorado and start the treatment," Harmon said. "Colorado is a legal state now and you can buy marijuana, but she is a minor so it's different.

"She has to have a medical marijuana card, and I had to become a Colorado resident in order to get her card and application. It's not as easy as it sounds, but we are really excited, and we have gotten to know the people at Realm of Caring and the success it has had with families."

Legalization

The treatment doesn't come without skeptics.

"When you say this is an unconventional treatment, it sounds like it's off in woo-woo land, but when you go back to the literature and medical journals it is very well established that it treats seizures," Mitchell said. "The evidence is out there. It is only unconventional because it doesn't make pharmaceutical companies money."

Harmon said she hopes legalization of medical marijuana for children is on the horizon for Texas.

"We love the Panhandle and Texas, but they are very closed-minded when it comes to medical marijuana," Harmon said. "We are determined to get this passed, because once she is on this oil she cannot come back to Texas and see family, because it's illegal here.

"I understand people smoke it, but people abuse pharmaceuticals too. This has so many benefits and is saving kids' lives, and I want them to see that."

Harmon said she has done her research, talked to doctors in Colorado and made her decision based on facts.

"I keep telling people, until you have a child like Jilli or Charlotte or the other precious kiddos, until you have lived through it, you don't know what you would do," she said. "The oil doesn't alter anything; it's not psycho-active at all.

"There are so many benefits from it, and most people don't want to hear this, but it doesn't hurt them. I sat across the table from Charlotte Figi a month ago and watched her feed herself, when a couple years ago she was on a feeding tube; I've seen it with my own eyes."

Fundraiser

The Figis dedicated their time to spreading the word about Charlotte's Web, and the Harmons - who have three other children, Logan, Emma and Samuel - are doing their part as well.

"It's become really important to us to spread awareness," Harmon said.

The Harmons are having a fundraiser at 7 p.m. Saturday at 1201 Arts, 1201 S.W. Eighth Ave.

The benefit will include speakers Mitchell and Melissa Milam, the former state director of the New Mexico Medical Cannabis Program, along with refreshments and live music from local musicians such as Desert Pearl, Mark and Marian Kay and Blues Boy Willie.

The Harmons are asking for a $5 admission fee to help Jilli on her journey.

"As excited as we are for the opportunity to give Jilli a chance and the potential it holds, its very difficult and the wait is hard, but it's worth it to know it's coming," Harmon said. "It's a mix of emotions, but I know it's going to be worth it."