Our Infant Son Has Brain Cancer- HOME AGAIN!!!

PALM SPRINGS, California (April 16, 2015) - Spencer Koptis, a 3-year-old boy living with a rare form of cancer, pilocytic, Pilomyxoid astrocytoma (inoperable brain cancer) since his diagnosis at the age of 15 months old was a beacon of love and light for all who met him. Despite being limited in movement and being in pain due to the location of the tumors on his spinal cord, he always had a smile on his face. Spencers parents did anything they could think of to help their child as most parents would starting with the standard treatment - chemotherapy.

Suzetta Vonzell, Spencer’s mother, became wary of the original chemotherapy treatments. After nearly three months of treatments, MRIs showed the tumors had not grown in size, but Spencer’s condition still wasn’t improving. During his 10th round of treatment in May 2013 he went into anaphylactic shock and nearly died. This is the point at which Suzetta began exploring cannabis as a treatment option. It took extensive research, along with trial and error such as the widely used pure CBD oil used to treat several medical issues in children, before Suzette found the mixture that worked. James Benno, who was providing the life saving mixture free of charge prior to the raid on his collective in May of 2014 explains that “The strain he was responding to was 16 % CBD and 6 % THC and very rare.”

For Spencers family it was a miracle.“Within two weeks he could sit up on his own, he could scoot again and within a month he could start using his hands (again), and his speech took off,” Suzette said. “Literally, I went into the neurosurgeon’s office and he said the tumor in the pineal region was pretty much gone — and it was a big tumor.”




After the raid on Benno’s collective which left him unable to provide medicine for Spencer, Vonzell found it increasingly difficult to find medicine for her son, and they were forced to resort to the pharmaceutical route again. The steroid injections being administered to Spencer quickly took their toll. The cancer returned and several months after showing improvement, Spencer’s health quickly deteriorated. Yet despite Spencers body retaining so much water from edema and being in pain so severe that liquid dilaudid was required to ease the pain, he still had a smile on his face that glowed from within.

Three-year-old Spencer Koptis, of Palm Springs, died at 1:50 p.m. on Thursday, April 2nd while being “held in his father and mother’s arms,” according to a post on the Prayers for Spencer Facebook page. The loss of Spencer is being mourned by several thousand community members along with his family. The war on drugs is to blame for this tragic loss, preventing medical cannabis providers like James Benno from providing life saving medicine. If you would like to contribute to Spencers funeral costs please visit http://www.gofundme.com/qrefx8.


Visit The Human Solution International at www.thsintl.org to find information on how you can help end prohibition because, "No One Should Go To Jail For A Plant!"


About The Human Solution International:THSI is a grassroots federally recognized 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, which includes over 50 chapters. THSI supports members of the community through the trials they face as cannabis consumers through court support, prison outreach, and education. Members believe that standing together in solidarity against this unfair treatment of civil rights will keep people out of prison for a plant which has been proven to hold many medicinal and health benefits.


By Becca Nichols


The Human Solution International

A 501(c)(3) Civil Rights Organization

Ph: (951) 934-0055

Fx: (520) 509-6845

Email: media@thsintl.org

www.thsintl.org


No One Should Go To Jail For A Plant!

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