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SAN ANTONIO – The issue to legalize medical marijuana has been front and center in the Texas Legislature. Nearly half a dozen bills have been introduced to help those living with seizures, severe pain and other medical conditions.
Sherise Nipper, a San Antonio mother who lives with epilepsy, said she may be forced to leave Texas if a medical marijuana bill doesn’t pass soon. She and her family have packed up for a 30-day trip to Colorado. But the 865 mile trip north isn’t for fun. Nipper calls it a matter of life and death.
“Any seizure could be my last seizure,” the 35-year-old said.
Her seizures are the result of a head injury she suffered about a decade ago. She’s prescribed 10 different medications. None of them has reduced the number of seizures or the subsequent violent muscle contractions, according to Nipper. Her seizures have led to numerous injuries over the years, including torn ligaments and broken bones from falls.
The only relief has come from her service dog named Pluto. She said he’s been specially trained to alert her just before an episode. It has enabled her to take proper safety precautions minutes before a seizure.
Pluto will lick her face or do a number of other quiet signals to alert Nipper.
“Since we got ‘Pluto’ trained, I no longer have to worry about those injuries,” she says. “I only have to worry about the injuries from the seizures themselves.”
Nipper wants to be an amazing mother to her two sons. They’re ages 15 and 9. Both have learned to care for their mother and have witnessed countless seizures that still leave them scared to this day.
Nipper suffers anywhere from 10 to 40 seizures a day. Lately, she said, they’ve only gotten worse. She allowed Fox San Antonio to record an episode to document how the seizures are negatively impacting her life.
“Ohhh… he’s telling me I’m going to have a seizure,” Nipper said after Pluto licked her face during the interview.
With her family by her side, Nipper lost consciousness on the couch about 8 minutes after her service dog’s alert. Her husband Nick stabilized her head with one arm and stroked her arm with the other as she appeared lifeless. It didn’t take long for her to start having convulsions.
They were small at first before her whole body began to tremble. Her young sons, who were also on the couch, stared toward the ground with watery eyes.
“She has lots of seizures a day and all I wonder is if she’s going to wake up,” her youngest son Kyler said.
Nipper experienced seizure after seizure. Her eyes remained closed.
“When this is happening, what are you thinking about?” Fox News San Antonio’s Ryan Wolf asked her husband.
“I hope that she wakes up,” he responded as tears began to run down his cheek. “I hope this isn’t her last time.”
There were more violent seizures that followed. They required Nick to tightly hold his wife’s head as her body thrust forward uncontrollably.
“It’s very difficult to know that…,” Nick said before his wife cut him off and began to mumble.
“Where am I?” she asked in a tone of voice that was hard to discern as she regained consciousness.
“You’re at home sweetie,” Nick said in a calming manner. “Just relax.”
“And ‘Pluto?'” she asked next.
“He’s right here sweetie.” Nick answered while running his hand up and down her arm.
It was apparent, Nipper had no idea where she was or what
