Published on: 24/01/19
Steph and Dom Parker, who starred in Gogglebox from 2013-2016, are on Channel 4 programme Can cannabis save our son? on Monday 9pm-10pm.
The one-off film follows Steph, Dom and Honor, their 15-year-old daughter, at home and across the UK and US as they meet other families who have been prescribed cannabis oil.
They try to get to the bottom of how effective it could be, uncover the risks involved, and try and decide whether this help their 18-year-old son Max, who suffers from severe epilepsy and autism.
In recent months Steph and Dom have been given new hope with the increasingly effective use of medical marijuana/CBD being shown to control or even eliminate Max’s seizures. They currently cannot access this treatment for their son.
Recent news on this debate includes six-year-old Alfie Dingley being granted a license for cannabis oil last summer and November’s change of law, where specialist doctors can prescribe these treatments in the UK in certain circumstances where other medicines have not worked (it’s argued that these circumstances are extremely limited).
Channel 4 Commissioning Editor Education, Emily Jones said: “This is an emotional and very timely story that echoes the real-life dilemma faced by many families in the UK, and we’re grateful to Steph and Dom for being brave enough to share their hugely personal experience.”
This week the family have talked about Max in press including Sky News and The Daily Mail. The pieces cover how Max has had epilepsy since the age of four and suffers more than 100 seizures a day.
