Mark Knecht just wants to see his 11-year-old daughter live to adulthood.

Preferably, he'd like her to be able to do it without tearing his family apart.

The self-described evangelical conservative Christian and Chief Financial Officer of CURE International in Lemoyne is hardly the type one would expect to be a marijuana activist, yet Knecht is precisely that.

Mark Knecht

Knecht - and a slew of supporters carrying yellow balloons - showed up at U.S. Rep. Scott Perry's town hall meeting in Lemoyne Monday afternoon to urge him to support legalizing medical marijuana.

Knecht's daughter Anna was born in 2003 with epilepsy, but it wasn't until 2010 that she was diagnosed specifically with the chromosomal defect SCN1A, known as Dravet Syndrome.

The evidence for the efficacy of medical marijuana's was most famously exemplified by the case of Charlotte Figi, who suffers from the same ailment.

Knecht is now working to legalize cannabis for medical use in Pennsylvania and across the nation.

And he has the support of his church, Mechanicsburg's New Covenant Fellowship.

"They understand who we are and they understand what the issues are," said Knecht of his fellow churchgoers. "They saw Anna progress: she used to be able to walk and participate in vacation Bible school, and now she's in a wheelchair with limited expressiveness."

Karen Hume was one of Anna's Bible school teachers.

"I am not in favor of making Pennsylvania a stoner state," she said, "but for cannabinoids like this there's no chance of that."

She said the things Anna's family have done for her have been "monumental" - this is "the one thing they haven't tried."

Anna's condition has already deteriorated to the point the Knechts remodeled their home in 2011 to make it accessible for her wheelchair.

Knecht said, "They call it 'catastrophic epilepsy of childhood' because these people die - they don't make it to adulthood.

"Now there is evidence medical cannabis is drastically reducing seizures."

He's careful with the wording.

It doesn't mean Anna will be smoking a joint or gurgling on a bong; rather, she will ingest an oil composed of Cannabidiol, a non-hallucinogenic component of marijuana, and olive oil.

Anna has been to Colorado; she's been approved for the treatment. She is scheduled to begin treatment this fall.

Knecht isn't waiting for the politicians.

Knecht now sees medical marijuana as "the best shot of anything on the planet we know of today" to help his daughter.

But Anna's treatment in Colorado will mean splitting up the Knecht family, with Anna and her mother moving to Colorado for treatment and Mark and their 15-year-old daughter staying in Pennsylvania, which Knecht said, "is a recipe for a lot of other issues."

He said Anna's birthday wish is that she could stay home for treatment.

Knecht has been working with Sen. Mike Folmer, a Republican from Lebanon County, who has teamed up with Democrat Daylin Leach to sponsor a medical marijuana legalization bill.

"The biggest issue in Pennsylvania is the governor and the Republican-controlled House think it's a federal issue, not a state issue," said Knecht. "Clearly 21 other states and the District of Columbia disagree, plus 13 other states with similar bills in their state houses."

Knecht said, "The arguments they have to refute it don't stand up to reality for people like Anna. The drugs they are on now are way more severe than medical cannabis.

"It's a bipartisan issue. There aren't many issues where more than 80 percent of people think it's a good thing. In the latest Pennsylvania poll it was 85 percent."

Monday afternoon, Knecht and more than 60 of his supporters packed the Lemoyne Borough Hall to take the issue to their federal representative: Scott Perry.

The hall was so packed, one resident quipped, "We don't turn this many people out for an election."

Perry, a Republican from Dillsburg, headed off the onslaught by announcing he was already working on a legalization bill at the federal level for medical use only.

"The issue," Perry said, "is how do the drug companies get the raw material without growing the plant?"

But the bottom line on medical marijuana, Perry said, is "I think it's the right thing to do.

"I am a proponent of medical marijuana," he said.

Perry made clear he does not support the recreational use of the drug, but said if he were in a situation like the Knechts - where the drug held out real hope for his child - he would be doing the same thing they are.

"And I am willing to put my name on a bill" to accomplish it, Perry said.

After the town hall, Knecht said, "It was good. We will continue to follow-up with [Perry's] office. We're happy to have a conversation with him about what his issues are."

NOTE: This story has been updated from the original to add quotes from Anna's Bible school teacher and Mark Knecht's response after the meeting.