DENVER (KDVR) — Charlotte Figi, the Colorado girl who pioneered medical marijuana for seizures, died after a seizure that resulted in respiratory failure and cardiac arrest following a battle with what was treated as a likely COVID-19 case.
Charlotte’s mother released a statement on Wednesday afternoon:
Our family is grateful for the outpouring of love while we mourn the loss of our Charlotte. Charlotte had a catastrophic form of early childhood epilepsy called Dravet syndrome. We are moved by the continual impact that Charlotte’s life has made shedding light on the potential of cannabis for quality of life.
We’d like to clarify some of the information that has been shared. Our entire family had been ill for close to a month starting early March, but did not initially fit all of the criteria for COVID-19 testing. For that reason, we were told to self-treat at home unless the symptoms worsened. Charlotte’s symptoms worsened, so she was admitted to the PICU on April 3rd. She was treated on the COVID-19 designated floor using all of the medical protocols set in place. On Friday April 3rd, she was tested, the results were negative for COVID-19 and discharged on Sunday April 5th when she seemingly began to improve. Charlotte had a seizure in the early morning on April 7th resulting in respiratory failure and cardiac arrest. Seizures are not uncommon with illness and paramedics were called returning us to the PICU. Given our family’s month-long history with illness and despite the negative test results, she was treated as a likely COVID-19 case. Her fighting spirit held out as long as it could and she eventually passed in our arms peacefully.
Paige Figi
On Tuesday night, Charlotte’s family posted on Facebook, “This is Nichole writing to update you for Paige, Greg and Matt. Charlotte is no longer suffering. She is seizure-free forever. Thank you so much for all of your love. Please respect their privacy at this time.”
On April 3, Charlotte’s family posted on Facebook that Charlotte was in the hospital.
“Most of the house recovered well from a month of virus but our little Charlotte hasn’t improved. She had a couple days where she seemed to turn the corner but then she took a dive.”
On April 5, a Facebook post said Charlotte was discharged from the hospital.
Charlotte suffered from a rare form of epilepsy called Dravet Syndrome which caused her to have violent seizures until she started using cannabis oil to treat them.
Dubbed the Charlotte’s Web Medical Hemp Act of 2014, the bill is named after Charlotte. Her parents campaigned nationwide for easier access to medical marijuana after successfully controlling their daughter’s seizures with cannabis oil.
