‘I was like everybody: Are you kidding me? Marijuana?’

Michele Hall has decided to leave the security of her Vernon Parish home, split her family and head West in hopes that medical marijuana will help her epileptic daughter find relief from uncontrollable seizures.

Four-year-old Ella Grace takes six different medicines, which her mom says don’t work and give her side effects just as bad — and sometimes worse — than the seizures. So, Hall said this week it looks as if she and two of her children, including Ella Grace, will be Colorado residents by the end of October. There, Ella Grace will have access to cannabidiol, a compound of marijuana, which people consume in oil form.

Earlier this year the Louisiana Legislature legalized medical marijuana for several medical conditions. Epilepsy, however, wasn’t one of them. Hall said she and other supporters believe after “a little TLC” and a couple of legislative sessions, the law will be expanded to include many more diseases.

“The bill is passed. It’s here,” Hall said. “We’ve won the fight.”

But, “two years is too long,” for Ella Grace to wait for epilepsy to be added, Hall said. “I’m not willing to risk her life.”

So in the mean time, she temporarily will become a single mom and leave her husband Randy and their home of more than 30 years in Anacoco. Randy Hall works in the oil field and will stay behind to keep his job.

Michele Hall plans to return to Louisiana as soon as she can, and wants to continue sharing her family’s and Ella Grace’s story while she’s away. Now that medical marijuana is legal for some uses in Louisiana, Hall said she wants to see the public educated on what the drug is and is not.

“This is going to change so many people’s lives for the better,” Hall said of the new treatment option.

Some skeptics, including those Hall has come in contact with, have a hard time getting past the stigma surrounding recreational uses of marijuana. Hall admits she was the same way the first time someone suggested she look into cannabidiol as a possible treatment option.

“I was like everybody else,” Hall said. “Are you kidding me? Marijuana?”

She started doing research, though, and learned about Alexis Bortell, the poster child for “Team Alexis,” a group advocating for medical marijuana in Texas. Bortell also is epileptic and moved with her family to Colorado. Hall said she contacted the Bortell family, and they told of Alexis’ success with the oil treatments.

According to the official “Team Alexis” Facebook page, on July 10, Alexis was “100 days seizure and symptom free” after the family’s move.

Hall said the side effects of Ella Grace’s “horrible medicine that is not even helping” are what worry her most. The drugs she is taking for her seizures haven’t stopped them, she said. They also affect her mood, making her “scream like a baby” and become aggressive.

There also is the possibility of irreversible damage in the future to consider. Hall said she knows a Vernon Parish woman in her 20s who started taking seizure medications at a young age, and it has deteriorated her bones and left her unable to walk.

“I just want to be able to have a choice,” Hall said regarding whether or not the pharmaceutical medicine is right for Ella Grace.

State Sen. Fred Mills, R-New Iberia, is a pharmacist who once led the Louisiana Board of Pharmacy and proposed Senate Bill 143, which Hall hopes to see amended to include epilepsy and many more diseases.

Hall said now that the medical marijuana is legal to treat some conditions, she encourages the public to do research for themselves and call a representative if they think the law should be expanded.

“It may not be for everybody,” Hall said. “I want a choice. Before I try this, let me try this.”