A gran who shunned chemotherapy is fighting off cancer by taking illegal super-strength cannabis.
Mum-of-three Susan Dhillon, 51, defied the odds after being given weeks to live last June.
She had stage four cancer of the mouth, nose and lower skull.
And yesterday – as new scans showed the cancer is being kept at bay – she said: "It’s an absolute miracle."
Doctors had told Sue only chemo and high-risk facial surgery would prolong her life.
Desperate Sue, a former NHS prescription administrator, put her faith in cannabis products instead after internet research.
She started taking a near-pure form of illegal cannabis tablets as well as manuka honey.
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The pills are made by a friend who suffers multiple sclerosis and Sue pays £16 per daily dose.
After five months doctors found some tumours had disappeared and others had stabilised or shrunk. A letter from her “pleasantly surprised” consultant confirmed her cancer was regressing.
Dr Michael Amin, a consultant oral and maxillofacial surgeon at Wexham Park Hospital in Slough, Berks, wrote: “Although unable to explain possible underlying healing benefits of the homeopathic treatment, I can only conclude Mrs Dhillon appears to have gained significant benefit from manuka honey and cannabis oil. I have no objection to her continuing with the cannabis oil treatment.”
And after seeing results from a scan last week, he wrote again, saying; “Very encouraging! The scan shows completely stable disease with no progression and no evidence of lymph gland involvement in the neck or spread to the lungs or brain.”
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Sue now hopes she could even enter remission. Her daily pill contains high levels of THC – the main psychoactive ingredient, making users “high” – as well as CBD, which appears to have health benefits.
Sue, who had never taken illegal drugs, said: “I was told I could die in weeks or months. I didn’t want chemotherapy. I wanted to live. The cannabis is keeping the cancer at bay.
“ It feels like a second chance.” Sue went to her doctor last May after food seeped into her nasal passages via holes in her mouth.
She had stage four advanced sinonasal carcinoma, a rare cancer of the nasal cavity.
Sue said: “I felt like there was no hope. If I only had weeks to live I wanted to stay healthy and happy. I saw people talking about how cannabis oil was helping them. I was willing to try anything.”
She found out about Rick Simpson oil before discovering an old school friend who was making her own pills from the substance to ease her MS.
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Rick Simpson oil is illegal and more potent than CBD oil – which is available on the NHS in cases of “exceptional clinical need”. Sue took her first 1mg tablet in July last year. She said: “The first day I felt really drunk. I am used to it now, it just makes me sleepy and hungry.
“I don’t feel the pain any more either. I have no regrets. I know it’s illegal but look how it’s helped. I was scared and didn’t know what else I could do.”
Son Dyl Find, 28, said: “I would never talk anyone out of chemo, but this worked so well for Mum.”
For the past month Sue has also had NHS-prescribed Sativex – the first licensed cannabis-based medicine licensed in the UK.
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While Sue credits her daily pill with saving her life, the jury is out on the extent CBD oil can help a patient.
Medicinal cannabis is dispensed in limited circumstances where other medicines have failed – for children with severe epilepsy, adults with vomiting or nausea caused by chemotherapy, and adults with MS. Sue’s pill has up to five per cent CBD but 80 per cent THC, which makes you high. The THC content in legal CBD oil is limited to 0.2 per cent.
Dr Tom Freeman, who led a review by University of Bath and University College London, wants more tests.
He said: “Those available on the high street don’t meet standards for medicinal products. Quality is not assured.
“There’s no data to support their safety.
“They haven’t been tested and so aren’t suitable. There’s a big risk of self-medication for a product that won’t be effective.”
