Op-Ed: How medical marijuana helped my grandmother through breast cancer

For breast cancer patients, medical marijuana is more than just a gummy, beverage, or balm. It’s a sense of relief.

When my grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer some years ago, my family and I were beside ourselves with anguish. It was tough to see the woman I looked up to my entire life distraught and depressed by a deadly illness that promised an uncertain future. We never thought she’d find relief in medical marijuana.

With the support of my family and her resilience, my grandmother got through treatment and a mastectomy, but the aftermath was brutal. Her post-surgery scars cause her a tremendous amount of internal and external nerve pain. She was haunted by phantom pain, an ache that occurs in the area where a body part used to be. Coupled with the diabetes that she’d dealt with for most of her life, navigating the road to recovery was a struggle.

My grandfather, a retired veteran who had been enrolled in the Texas Compassionate Use Program for some time, found great success with using marijuana to treat his chronic pain. Though he initially enrolled in the program for his post-traumatic stress disorder, the pain-relieving effects of the medicine were so significant that it allowed him to walk without a cane for the first time in years. When we learned breast cancer qualified as a TCUP condition, we were hopeful my grandmother would find similar comfort. 

It took a bit of persuading. My grandmother comes from a staunchly Catholic family, and she was hesitant to accept cannabis as a proper form of medical treatment. After an online consultation with a physician, she enrolled and got her prescription from goodblend, a licensed medical marijuana dispensary in Texas, starting with low and slow doses. What followed was a complete transformation.

She learned that her pain was controllable. As a lifelong diabetic, having the option of a different, more natural form of medicine was a breath of fresh air for her. Now, she feels like she can address her pain on her own terms.

For breast cancer patients, medical marijuana is more than just a gummy, beverage, or balm. It’s a sense of relief. October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and while no person’s diagnosis, treatment, and recovery are the same, this particular medicine was an enormous help to my grandmother. I firmly believe that it deserves more recognition.

Breast cancer patients have a right to relief. Each year, about 240,000 women in the United States are diagnosed with breast cancer. Though it can be lifesaving, chemotherapy causes adverse symptoms such as pain, nausea, decreased appetite, anxiety, and a lack of sleep. Marijuana helps alleviate these symptoms and guides women through the daily grind of treatment.

A breast cancer diagnosis is the last thing anyone wants to hear. It can be a scary, painful, and uncertain process. But medical marijuana products, like those goodblend has provided for my family, help patients find relief during treatment and recovery. Enrollment in TCUP was easy, and the quality of the products was transformative. I’ve seen firsthand how this medicine has helped people close to me find relief.

During October and into early November, goodblend is partnering with Susan G. Komen to provide breast cancer patients the relief they deserve. They attended the Komen Dallas North Texas Race for the Cure on Oct. 19 and will be at the Komen Austin More Than Pink Walk on Oct. 27 and the Komen San Antonio More Than Pink Walk on Nov. 2 handing out merch and discounted $49 TCUP prescriptions through a collaboration with telemedicine provider DocMJ to eligible participants.