There are three things a lot of people don’t know about me.
One is that I love romantic comedy movies. The second is that I love 90s Hip Hop and RnB music, and the third is that I am a divorced single dad of two beautiful boys Lincoln and Preston.
I’m also a Stage 3b colorectal cancer survivor.
In July 2019, I was diagnosed with cancer.
At the time, my ex-wife and I already knew something was seriously wrong.
All the classic signs were there. I had constant pain, misshaped stools and bled after going to the toilet. This went on for a couple of years before the pain of going to the toilet became unbearable.
I finally pushed my GP at the time to look further at the initial diagnosis of allergies, stress or possible diverticulitis as it didn’t equate to the pain I was experiencing.
I gave the doctor a stool sample which, believe it or not, came up negative. It said that there was no blood in my stool.
You would think I would be happy and relieved but I wasn’t. In fact, after receiving that result from my GP, I asked him for a referral to get a colonoscopy.
Reliving the experience when writing this makes me really emotional.
The day when I went for my colonoscopy, the doctors didn’t need to do a full examination as they found a seven-centimetre tumour in my rectum. My GP confirmed it was cancerous a few days later.
I felt like I was living on borrowed time.
Immediately, I started to make lots of changes in my life. I was adjusting and preparing to fight for my life and also prepare for the possibility of not seeing my boys grow up.
Vae taking a selfie with his two sons.
It would’ve been extremely hard, if not impossible, to get through without that support.
My treatment plan required radiation and chemotherapy and caused chronic pain, which required large amounts of pain medication.
I was prescribed Tramadol, Endone and Targin until I was finally sent to the palliative care team who put me on Pregablin for nerve pain.
The doses kept getting stronger as my pain continued to increase.
On a weekly basis, I was taking 80 tablets of Endone, which was balanced with Coloxyl tablets and Movicol.
Life during this period was simply about getting through the daily discomfort and high levels of pain.
It was during this time a mutual friend suggested CBD oil and gave me a bottle.
I had already tried smoking cannabis early on in my treatment but found all it did was get me high and did nothing to ease the pain.
I didn't think anything of CBD oil when I first used it. Surprisingly, soon afterwards, I found that I was no longer in pain.
It was the first time I had experienced being pain-free without the aid of prescription medication.
I decided to continue using CBD oil and stopped using Endone altogether. Because of this change, I ended up being able to function normally.
I no longer had any pain and was not in the drowsy zombie-like state of mind I had been when taking copious amounts of prescribed pain medication.
Vae in his office.
For the record, it didn’t cure cancer for me. My surgeons, my oncologist, my cancer co-ordinator and my family all played a huge role in that. But, what it gave me was the ability to be out of pain and also allow me to function normally before and after cancer.
I found that there were no side effects or withdrawal symptoms when I stopped using CBD oil, as opposed to the prescription medications.
The only way I was able to obtain CBD oil at the time was through the black market.
It's been good to see the change over the last three years with the Australian Capital Territory leading the charge with changes to cannabis laws.
The stigma and red tape that surrounds medicinal cannabis seem to prevent this from being easily accessible, affordable and available for all the families that need it.
We're getting there though. The laws in Queensland now allow for an authorised medical practitioner to describe medicinal cannabis to patients.
I hope to see CBD oil readily available in all states soon.
I like many people who know the benefits will be celebrating when that day arrives.
Medicinal cannabis products that contain CBD oil only are prescription-only medicines in Australia.
