Ava Barry, 7, finally approved for medicinal cannabis

Vera Twomey's struggle for her daughter appears to finally be over.

The Minister for Health today granted a licence for her daughter Ava to be allowed to access medicinal cannabis. Ava, 7, has Dravet's syndrome, a rare form of epilepsy which means she can suffer with multiple severe seizures every day. Her family had been seeking Cannabidiol (CBD), a cannabis extract, from the HSE to help give Ava relief from these episodes. Despite several years of lobbying and a walk by Vera from the family home in Aghabullogue in Cork to the Dáil in Dublin easier this year, Simon Harris had held off on granting the licence. [caption id="attachment_259826" align="alignnone" width="1100"] Vera Twomey and TD Gino Kenny.[/caption]   Today in the Dáil, however, he said he had "signed another licence for a citizen, a little girl." Vera confirmed in a message in her Facebook page that Ava had been given the licence to access medicinal cannabis. Ava had been getting CBD in the Netherlands under the supervision of a neurologist there. That and the work of doctors here resulted in her being approved for treatment in Ireland. "I just want to thank everybody for the support and everything," said Vera. "We’ll be home for Christmas and she's doing really, really well. "We just can't wait to get her home to Aghabullogue and she'll be even better there. We're going to be home as soon as we can."