Nikki Lawley: Injured Nurse Finds Relief With Cannabis

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A Cannabis Patient and Advocate pushes for access for all - Free the Leaf!

Imagine having your entire life change suddenly – everything planned for your future becomes bleak – in an instant. In November of 2016, Nikki Lawley was a very active person – a pediatric nurse who enjoyed outings with her husband and dogs. She’d often go on short jaunts to nearby casinos where the 49-year-old professional moonlighted as a card-dealer in the past. A New York native it seemed as if Lawley had it all – until one fateful day when everything came crashing down. “Life changed in a second, no warning, no preparation, just like that ….. Boom” she stated in an interview. During a routine doctor’s visit, a child frightened by needles head-butted Lawley as she was holding onto him from behind while another nurse attempted to give a shot to the 10 yr. old boy. Nikki was hit frontally and then bounced off a plaster wall and back into the boy’s head in a significant whiplash motion. This was Lawley’s third TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) and the one that would forever change her life. The impact to her skull was severe and caused immediate left arm paralysis and weakness and severe head and neck pain. Left with confusion, disorientation, and vision issues, doctors worked to properly treat her. Lawley was subsequently diagnosed with a Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI) and cervical instability and was then went through a mill of medical specialists, tests, and treatments. That was the last day she was able to work. The once joyful, fun, and energetic nurse was all of a sudden plagued with intense headaches, issues with fine motor skills, sensitivity to light, and cognitive issues that caused her great emotional and physical pain.

She became desperate for relief when conventional treatments, medications, and tests aggravated her symptoms. Eventually, she turned to medicinal cannabis in her rampant despair – rather than it being presented as an option for treatment. With a TBI (Traumatic brain injury) she felt very misunderstood. Personally having the same type of diagnosis that she does, from personal experience it’s a very lonely feeling inside. Every last neurological symptom can appear and it’s very hard for clinicians to capture the exact problem – many people with TBI’s will go down a road of pharmaceutical medications similar to what Nikki has – and the outcome seems to be the same for the vast majority. They simply don’t work and tend to cause depression and other symptoms from the head injury to worsen. And for her – they did just that.

Life became very dark for Lawley at this time, knowing inside something was missing and feeling the constant frustration of not being who she always was. So many of the side effects from the pharmaceutical medications used caused Lawley to feel out of control emotionally, anxious, and hopeless. She became so overwhelmed with the most simple of tasks, unable to do basic math, remember meetings and appointments, forgets to feed her pets, and even feed herself. She’s by far not alone and many in this situation will not gain access to the incredible abilities of cannabis and its extracts. It was imperative to use cannabinoid medicine for this once very social, fun, and active woman to leave the shell of who she had become after the head injury. Never wanting to leave the house or do anything at all socially, anxiety left her home-bound and feeling very insecure about how slow her brain was processing in such a fast-paced world – the only answer would come within the cannabis plant.

Nikki’s husband had special plans for Christmas that year and purchased a gift for her – a trip to Las Vegas which normally would have been amazing. Instead, it was dreaded and all she saw was the negative – that her pain would be unbearable and the neurological aspects even worse with the lights and glimmer of Vegas. She was right as while doing anything physical or demanding during that vacation would bring on aggravation to symptoms.
In January of 2017, while she was there, severely depressed, Nikki spotted a mobile billboard advertising medical cannabis cards available there in Nevada. She mentioned this to her husband and he reacted immediately – the man that’s loved her intensely and watched her suffer quickly jumped at the chance for anything that could possibly help her as life seemed so impossible for her.

She then went to a cannabis clinic in Las Vegas and received her medical cannabis card for California because in Nevada they offer reciprocity for California patients – something patients wish all states would do. Nikki then deciphered through the various information online and off and went to a medicinal cannabis dispensary. A very caring budtender listened to her story, her problems, and then recommended products at the time that took Lawley right “off the ledge “ she had been on for such a long time… She was totally suicidal and she had gone as far as planning her death and writing letters, which very few knew of. Many don’t understand the ramifications of head injuries – and the long-lasting recovery involved. Even the strongest of us that have done a tad more than bumped our head have had very weak and low points. In the process of my own recovery, while in ICU, knowing that racing a car was forever out of the future plans made in my life – I also did what she did. I even took it one step further and on multiple occasions attempted to disconnect my own life support until doctors were forced to use restraints. Take a look at this graphic and you’ll understand much better:

Lawley would like to send a message to the world. A bold move to come out and speak on this subject. She told me that “Cannabis saved my life that day, cannabis gave me hope for the future that day and the following days.”

With her husband Jack by her side, Nikki began her due diligence on the benefits of the plant – researching the various aspects of medical marijuana and how it would work on her various symptoms. She went a bit further and started learning how friends and family could benefit as well. At that time, cannabis was available in New York but only in certain products like oils, pill, and vape formulations. When leaving Las Vegas she, like many would assume the same products would be available in her home state. Quickly realizing that this was not the case, Lawley had to find an option and fast – her life depended on it. She was left with no choice but to medicate out of the country in Canada where she has an address and access to Canadian Medical cannabis. Without a doubt, her story is one of perseverance, belief in nature, and shows her outright strong will to survive. She recently stated to me “Cannabis saved my life and it has given me back a quality of life that I can appreciate so much.”

Unfortunately, she can not bring her medical cannabis home from Canada because of international laws (specifically US Prohibition) on schedule one substances and crossing borders. As a result, Lawley spends a lot of time with friends in Ontario to gain the quality of life back she once had. The only way to do this is by having access to whole plant medicine – meaning all the cannabinoids. Nikki finds the most relief for her symptoms by smoking specific cannabis flower strains which are not available to medical patients in New York. Lawley remains hopeful that someday her home state will gain the proper legislation to allow her to freely medicate with plant-based cannabinoid medicine soon. There’s been much controversy in New York and many remain unsure of their ability to gain access, products, or what they can legally use. Even with the uncertainty, Lawley registered herself in New York under the state medicinal cannabis program in May of 2017. She kept the hope alive that dispensaries would be there and she’s been able to compare products at home vs. abroad in Canada. So far her dream has yet to come true.

Since that time Nikki has become more than frustrated by the limited ability to gain cannabis treatment options in New York and the high price tag on products available within that state’s program. Being on workers compensation disability for her head injury – initially, all treatments for cannabis were denied. However, recently through the appeals process, her insurance company has been mandated to reimburse Lawley for her medical cannabis purchases which is something every patient dreams of. She experimented with multitudes of products, strains, and dosage protocols before arriving at the conclusion that smoked or vaporized cannabis flower in its most natural form provides the very most efficacy – it gives her relief.

Nikki stated that it took her some time to find the correct strain with the specific terpene profile that worked for her best. She’s a strong believer in the entourage effect, the idea that the whole plant including cannabinoids, terpenes, and other constituents working in unison together provides a synergistic benefit, and the effect produced from these compounds is greater than the effect produced from any isolated compound alone. This is something we definitely don’t debate on as we’re in agreement. The vast majority of patients that suffer from neurological ailments simply don’t do well on single cannabinoid therapies, this is known by most that have had ‘hands on’ many patients or are active within the patient-to-patient sharing. The scientific community continues to experiment with mono cannabinoids for the most part, which may help some health issues but hasn’t provided effective treatment to the vast majority with TBIs – it takes the whole plant.

Nikki stated “Terpenes are chemicals found in plants, including cannabis, responsible for the different aromas such as citrus, berry, spearmint, and evergreen. Terpenes can modulate the effect and uptake of cannabinoids and have therapeutic properties of their own.” She’s become much more than a patient over the past few years – and this is generally what’s seen in the cannabis community. Many have learned enough to start teaching others including the healthcare industry which is eager to learn for the most part – but what’s beautiful is she’s got history in the field of medicine which makes her a huge asset to the world of medicinal cannabis. Nikki continues her research and intensive work by the day – she’s realized the difference that cannabis made in her own life and how that spreads to the world. Through her own grief, she learned that the more knowledge she gained could save other patients from feeling the same way. Nikki has become an outspoken activist on the benefits of cannabis for head injuries and more.

She’s also a member of online support groups for individuals that have suffered head injuries such as Brain Tumors, TBIs, concussions, and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), the controversial neuro-degenerative disease generally caused by repeated head injuries that often occur in sports such as football, boxing, racing, and other combat or high impact activities. CTE was discovered in 2005 when Pittsburgh researchers examined brain tissue from deceased NFL players. Nikki supports and is consulting for organizations conducting studies with cannabinoid medicine for the treatment of symptoms associated with CTE and other types of head injuries. A warm soul, Nikki is passionate and infinitely interested in the benefits of cannabis, many of which are still being researched. She boldly stated “Cannabis is my medicine and my hope is that others don’t have to suffer to the point I did …. cannabis should be offered as a treatment for TBI / Concussion symptoms. “

Frequent trips across the border from her residence in Buffalo to her so-called “safe house” in Ontario are not too comfortable and take both a physical and emotional toll on Lawley. However, she stays determined and continues her fight for better access for all patients in New York and beyond. “Everyone should have access to the plant” she states. While Lawley with her conservative education in medicine never thought she would become an outspoken medical cannabis advocate and activist – she knows now that her journey as a patient is for the greater good with a far-reaching impact, even more so than her previous life as a nurse.

At the end of the day, Nikki hopes her story can inspire others to never give up, to live in the moment. She wanted to end this with her inspirational thoughts on life – “embrace the journey you have been given and let the universe direct your path” she went on… “Living in the past creates depression, living in the future creates anxiety, living in the moment creates peace and comfort. Enjoy life to its fullest.”

Thank you so much for sharing with us Nikki Lawley and a special thank you to Rachelle Gordon for contributing!