Michelle Dumay is the mother of a terminally ill child born with a rare brain abnormality that required nearly half of her brain to be removed when she was less than a day old. Among other medical conditions (cerebral palsy, blindness and quadriplegia) her daughter suffers from four types of seizures.

Michelle is no stranger to medical/hospital settings having taken her daughter to more than 1400 appointments. Her experience as a caregiver and medical advocate has allowed her to serve on patient advisory councils for two children’s hospitals (Los Angeles and Phoenix) and one insurer (Mercy Care). She is also a speaker (TEDX, national and international), workshop facilitator and a voting Member of ASTM, which establishes international cannabis standards for quality management, processing, security, retailing and credentialing.

As a trained chemist, she first turned to conventional-pharma for the treatment of her daughter’s seizures. Then she learned of the medicinal value of cannabis and its efficacy in mitigating seizures. With great success, her daughter has been using cannabis for several years.

Along with advocacy, learning has been a huge part of this journey. Federal prohibition has hampered all things-cannabis, including medical use. Having experienced first-hand the benefits and efficacy of its use to mitigate her daughter’s seizures, Michelle shares her family’s story and her perspective of mothering a special needs cannabis patient–navigating the gaps between patient use, patient access and patient education.

She lends her experience from the patient’s perspective to Blue Dream Industries as a West Coast Special Projects Consultant.