Harli couldn't sit up until she was nearly 2 and a half years old.
It's a condition often misdiagnosed as Cerebral Palsy or Autism.
"As a parent of a child with a rare disease, you find yourself as a parent trying to educate the doctors," Harli's mother Tami Mugler says. "That in itself is frustrating."
Epilepsy is another symptom of Harli's condition, and she's had periodic seizures throughout her life.
As Harli hit her twenties, her epilepsy escalated.
For a period of three straight years, Harli started seizing 7-20 times a day, episodes lasting 10-20 minutes. Mugler says Harli stopped smiling, interacting, feeding herself; Harli had stopped living, and was only existing.
"It was so heartbreaking to watch her be like that all day, every single day," Mugler says.
Harli tried dozens of medications to no avail. Then, a mutual friend introduced Mugler to Boris Shcharansky. He owns and operates Heartland Hemp, a supplier of the hemp extract oil in Des Moines.
"What we have is a pure CBD [cannabidiol] extract," Shcharansky says. "CBD is the strongest anti-inflammatory found in nature."
After watching Harli "take medicine for her medicine," Mugler says she was ready to give the CBD extract, the hemp oil, a shot.
"He gave her a month's worth for free," Mugler says. "He said, 'I know it's expensive. Let's just see if it helps her.' We gave her the hemp and immediately saw a decline in the amount of seizures she was having a day," Mugler says.
Harli is now five months seizure-free.
"It's like freedom from the old time," Harli Kirkpatrick says.
"All these toxic chemical combinations we've been pumping into my child for three years, and it took hemp," Mugler says.
As Harli continues to improve, she says her entire life has changed, all because of a plant oil.
"Give me better life. No jumble," Kirkpatrick says.
The only problem? It's illegal to grow hemp in the state of Iowa.
Hemp can be legally imported into the U.S., and Harli gets her oil from a company that imports it to California, then sends it to Heartland Hemp in Des Moines.
Harli's hemp oil isn't regulated by the FDA or covered by health insurance, because it's considered a supplement and not a medication.
The oil that's giving Harli her life back is an out-of-pocket import.
"That little tiny bottle is a 10 milliliter bottle. It costs her 370 dollars a month," Mugler says.
Shcharansky says Heartland Hemp's goal is to enlighten legislators nationwide about the plant.
Hemp contains only trace amounts of THC, the ingredient that causes a high in marijuana.
He says it's impossible to use his product as a recreational drug, and it's time for people to seriously consider growing the plant stateside.
"People that say it's not helpful or that people are just trying to get high, that's really just coming from ignorance," Shcharansky says.
Until it's legal to grow the plant in Iowa, both Mugler and Shcharansky say they'll continue to lobby for it.
Shcharansky says the oil can be used to treat symptoms of epilepsy, Krohn's disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Arthritis, and many other conditions.
To learn more about Heartland Hemp, click here or follow this link: http://heartlandhempco.com/
To keep up with Harli's activities on Facebook, click here or follow this link: https://www.facebook.com/harlicaninc
Story Source: The above story is based on materials provided by KTIV
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length\
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