Mum opens up about giving her son CANNABIS oil on his deathbed: ‘I was terrified’

Callie Blackwell, Deryn Blackwell, cancer, cannabis oil

by Emma Dodds |
Updated on

Callie Blackwell's son Deryn was given three days to live when she tried something unthinkable - she gave him cannabis oil.

Deryn was taken to a hospice to live out his final days just after his 14th birthday as he had a one in a billion form of cancer named Langerhans cell sarcoma - being only the seventh person to have ever been diagnosed with it.

Having planned most of his funeral, it was then that Callie turned to her son and asked whether he would like to try the alternative medicine which had been refuted by his doctors.

WATCH: Callie Blackwell opens up about risking jail for her son

Astonishingly, Deryn responded to the cannabis oil straight away, and at 17, he has now made a full recovery.

Callie and Deryn, who appeared on This Morning in March this year, spoke on Loose Women about how they had come to make that gut-wrenching decision.

Callie explained how doctors gave him a "week at most" when he was moved to the hospice, explaining that she began looking for alternative medicines around six months before that - and cannabis oil kept "popping up".

She revealed that at the time they first tried the cannabis oil, Deryn didn't have cancer anymore, but his body was trying to engraft a bone marrow transplant to help his body make his own blood cells - but it looked as though it might fail.

Callie, whose son Deryn was sat in the audience on the show, explained that it was "amazing" to see him "sat there in a suit" after the years of pain and anxiety.

Callie Blackwell, Deryn Blackwell, cannabis oil
©ITV/ Loose Women

Deryn himself explained that he "selfishly" didn't have a problem with his mum risking jail, saying: "I was on the brink of death, I was up for doing anything.

"It wasn't going to hurt me anymore than what was already happening.

"I didn't worry because, quite selfishly, if it didn't work I wouldn't be around to see what happened. And if it did work, it's fine."

Callie then explained: "His nails were all falling off, and they wanted to amputate his hand.

"Five days after he started taking cannabis, his bandages had come off - and the infections had gone.

"I couldn't tell the hospital staff why, the cannabis was hidden in a jar under this bed. Some of the hospice workers knew and called it, 'the magic under the bed'.

"Everything had been taken away from Deryn, there was no conventional treatment left."

Callie Blackwell, Deryn Blackwell, cannabis oil
Callie became quite emotional when discussing what could have happened to her ©ITV/ Loose Women

She explained how she was "terrified" and "so fearful" that someone would find out, as not only might her children be taken into care but Deryn might have lost "the one thing that was actually working for him".

Callie added: "It got to a point, I knew I was facing 14 years if I was found out, but I would do every day of a 14-year sentence if it meant he was still here."

We're sure many mums will be able to relate to Callie's dogged determination to keep her son alive at any cost.

**Did you watch Deryn and Callie on Loose Women yesterday? What do you think of their story? Would you give cannabis oil to your child if they were days from death? Let us know over on **Facebook **and **Twitter.

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