A year into his cancer treatment, Stephen heard about the benefits of medical marijuana and CBD oil, but it has proven difficult to get
I was lying face down when I first heard about Stephen Schulman. Id been feeling sorry for myself, complaining of an aching wrist and back the vestiges of an age-inappropriate roller-skating accident – while my massage therapist Elisa worked to soothe my pain.
Eventually, our conversation turned to her friend Stephen. At only 41, just months after marrying the love of his life, Stephen had gone to the doctor complaining of stomach pains and the inability to keep anything down. He re-emerged with a diagnosis: stage-3 pancreatic cancer, inoperable due to a very large tumor wrapping itself around a major artery in his abdomen.
In essence, a death sentence.
Elisa had been buying Stephen sublingual CBD oil $89 for one ounce because it proved to be the only thing effectively alleviating the tingling and numbness that had recently consumed his fingers and toes. He and his husband Wades savings had been bled dry by their $2,400-a-month insurance premium plus general expenses. Stephen is unable to work since his life has become a blur of excruciating pain, treatments, hope, fear and heavy doses of opioids like fentanyl and oxycodone.