Original subtitles

Downloaded from YTS.MX

[soft music]

Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX

[sighs]

I've told this story quite a few times...

[sighs] but I'm ready to tell it again.

Waldo was conceived above a pizza shop

in the Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia.

[upbeat music]

♪ I am a pizza, I am a pizza ♪

♪ With extra cheese ♪

♪ With extra cheese ♪

[Brian] We're here at Pizza Brain, it's a pizza shop.

It's a pizza museum, it's also my home.

I live upstairs with my wife. [laughs]

This is Joe Hunter, he's, uh, one of the co-owners.

Also the head chef here at Pizza Brain.

He's also really good at tossing dough.

Here he goes, it's like physical poetry.

In between bites here, I want to show you

something that's really important to me, thank you.

Pizza Brain holds the Guinness record

for the largest collection of

pizza-related items in the world.

It's real, it exists, it's all over this place.

It's in the walls, it's in the floors.

It's in the basement, it's in the attic

and we're always growing, we're always collecting.

We're always looking for new things.

Pizza's a lifestyle, man, and, you know.

I have no, I'm not slowing down, I'm only 28.

[machine rumbles]

Did Brian already say that I was the one that was, like,

initiating wanting to have a baby?

[interviewer] Uh, not specifically, he mentioned

that there's some back and forth.

Yeah, well, yeah, we both didn't know

if we wanted to have kids,

we always talked about being, like, you know.

The aunt and uncle to our friends' kids

or whatever, and then, um, I was holding

our friend's baby and I just went...

"What? Oh, oops, shoot, I need a baby." [laughs]

Like, it just, like, woke something up in me.

[soft music]

-[Brian] What are you doing? -Organizing stuff for Waldo.

[Brian] Oh, I mean, you're nesting?

[laughs]

[soft music]

-[Brian] All right, well... -[laughs]

...might be one of your last check-ins, how do you feel?

-Good. -[Brian] This right here,

this is the back courtyard upon which

we will, I don't know, celebrate Waldo.

It's going to happen, it's going to be monumental.

[Brian] If you could take a complete uneducated guess,

what's your over, under on the date?

When's he coming, what about you?

-[laughs] -Take a wild stab in the dark.

-Nope. -Whenever he wants.

[Brian] I'm guessing the first day of Spring,

-March 21st. -And what a day for a birthday.

[Brian] And he was two weeks overdue,

his vital signs were great.

He was super healthy, we had no idea

he was as big as he would end up being.

[nurse] Oh, my goodness, holy moly.

-[Brian laughs] Here you go. -[nurses] That is a huge baby.

[upbeat music]

A baby tipped the scales at 13 pounds

eight and a half ounces, actually

he might have knocked the scales over.

[reporter] His name is Waldo James Mysterious Dwyer.

A substantial name for a substantial baby boy.

No one knows the name Waldo.

The only cultural reference people have

is, uh, a kids book from, like,

30 years ago, and maybe Family Matters.

[reporter] If Waldo's dad looks familiar,

he's been on TV before as co-founder of Pizza Brain.

The Dwyers live above the shop.

Folks downstairs looking forward to Waldo's first visit.

[Brian] When we got home from the hospital,

the whole neighborhood just, like, welcomed us.

It didn't matter where we went for the next few weeks, for the next six months.

Construction workers working on the street

like, "Hey, buddy, hey, pizza baby," and I'm like

yeah, something like that, and I went home just

being like, "Holy shit, like, everybody knows Waldo."

This part of my life feels like a dream

because this is when things were just awesome.

[soft music]

Dad Cam was given to me by one of my closest

and oldest friends, during Waldo's baby shower,

he walked up to me and said, "So, uh, you know.

You're a dad now, or you're going to be, and--"

[friend] As a dad, you don't have your video camera yet,

but here it is, it's recording right now.

[Brian] And I was like, "Just like this? You just kind of film it like this?"

And I was off to the races.

Moo.

[Waldo babbles]

[friend] Is that what dad looks?

Look at those dad shorts,

that's what a dad looks like. [laughs]

[soft music]

-[Brian] Pretty developed palette. -[Danielle] It's so cute.

[Brian] Pretty developed palette.

[Waldo cries]

[Brian] Oh, man, now you've got hiccups?

[Waldo hiccups]

[Danielle] His eyes are all gray.

[splashing water]

[Brian] Wal, have you just took your first, uh,

few scoots with your knees and your butt?

[Danielle] I think we were pretty smitten with him

from the beginning, I think it was like

pure bliss and excitement, and then.

[Brian] Six month appointment, pediatrician.

I'm guessing 27 and a half pounds.

-What are you guessing? -I'm guessing 26.

[Brian] 26.0?

Four.

[Brian] Throughout those, that six months,

Danielle started noticing this weird thing.

This, uh, like gray reflection in his eye

and she would always point it out whenever we'd, like, throw him in the air

or, like, he'd look at us, there was this, like.

A hollow, sort of, like, white reflection

in one of his eyes, but I did some

research on the internet, and you know how it's, like,

not really a good idea to do that

because it's either could be nothing or could be

this crazy, aggressive, rare childhood eye cancer.

[Waldo cries]

-[Brian whistles] -[nurse] Okay, we'll, uh, we'll listen today and see

if we hear it or not, I'm happy to do that.

The other thing, I'm just looking at his eyes.

[truck backing up]

There's something going on in his eye.

Not sure what it is so,

there's an appointment that's been scheduled up at CHOP.

We're going to check it out now and see what's up.

Uh, man, it's really, it's been, like, three years,

but it's still really, uh, it's hard to...

hmm, it's hard.

[deep breathing] It's really hard to, like, go back to that moment

because it really did change everything.

[Danielle] In a way, I felt, like, kind of

prepared for it because I had the, like,

"Could be nothing or could be this,"

so I'd done a lot of research on it.

[Brian] And we go to an ophthalmologist

up the street at, uh, the Children's Hospital

of Philadelphia, I, it's kind of.

I remember every second of that, but when it really hit was when

the doctor came in and said, "There's a large mass growing in your son's eye,"

and that just kind of, like, everything kind of blanked out for us, and I just remember

thinking, "Oh, man," like, okay, this isn't, like,

just all fun and games now, there's actually

something going on with Waldo.

[Brian] We have discovered that Waldo

has a large growth blocking his retina in his left eye.

So he can't see out of it right now.

They don't know if it's cancerous or not.

We won't be able to find that out until Monday

when a specialist can see him.

Waldo, when you're watching this as an older human...

I don't know if you'll remember any of this part,

but I hope that, I hope that you're okay, I think you're going to be okay.

[Waldo cries]

I mean, um, I felt super connected to Waldo

because he was one of my best friend's kids.

I just remember staring into his eyes

and just feeling such a heavy vibe,

and, fuck... something's wrong with Waldo.

October 27th, 2014, we are taking Waldo

to the Will Center, um, to check out

whether the tumor that is growing

in his left eye is cancerous or not.

This could be a potentially very long few months.

Uh, it could be a long day, but I feel

strangely optimistic, not because

I think it's going to go one way or the other

or this way or that, more because, um,

I knows the facts and the ground,

which is that Waldo is loved, that I'm loved.

So is Danielle, that we are taken care of

by our friends and our family.

It's all kind of a blur, feels like, uh, a bad dream.

It was kind of the first time I really heard Waldo cry.

[Waldo cries]

They strapped him down and they

did eye exams on him, and it was terrifying

because he wasn't sedated or anything.

It was just a five and a half month old,

six month old being held down

by, like, 12 people in the dark, screaming bloody murder

looking like Clockwork Orange.

Brian and I just held each other

in the corner while they were looking at his eyes.

They had this, like, sort of camera thing going on.

Um, we heard.

[doctor] Waldo has Retinoblastoma in both eyes.

Retinoblastoma is the most common cancer of the eye

in kids, you've done nothing to cause this.

So that's, six, six months of chemotherapy, then done.

I didn't, I didn't really know what it meant

to go through chemotherapy, so while

I was still kind of gathering myself,

I got a text in the hospital

while we're getting the diagnosis,

and this is just a testament to how psychically linked

I am with Waldo's uncles, Larry and Mike.

I got a text, you know... [buzzes]

...and it's like, "Come over for crabs tonight?

We want to see you guys."

I felt a moment of responsibility

for making sure that this innocent child would live.

It's, like, weird, but it's almost like,

our paternal, like, instincts kicked in,

where it's, like, that if I didn't use

everything in my power to help,

then, uh, I don't know, I wasn't being a good friend.

It was... I mean, bar none, the most

somber crab-like dinner we've ever had. [chuckles]

Halfway through the dinner, Larry and Mike,

kind of, excuse themselves and just kind of lean over and say,

"Hey, could you come upstairs with us for a second?"

And Larry, kind of, asked me in his Larry way, he's like,

"So what do you want to do about this?"

And I'm like, "What do you mean what do,

what I want to do about this, I mean chemo's

in a couple of days, I have no idea.

I'm kind of terrified, I'm a little numb right now."

And he's like, "Read this."

[Sierra] My son is Landon Riddle, he was diagnosed

with aggressive cancer.

Leukemia when he was two years old in 2012.

We were left with no option when

they told us to take Landon home

and make him comfortable, and Landon was only

given an eight to ten percent chance of survival.

We were left really with no choice,

but to look for alternative treatments

and we found medical marijuana to be one.

It instantly improved his life,

and medical marijuana cured Landon's cancer.

He will have six years cancer free next month.

We have decided to share our story

in hopes of helping other parents.

But I read that story,

and I looked up at Larry and Mike and just said,

"Well, wow, I mean, so you guys are--

you, you want to do this with cannabis oil?"

And they just kind of, looked at me like,

"We've been think-- we've been talking about this for a week.

Ever since you told us there was some thing in his eye."

We showed Brian, uh, the story of Landon

and suggested that maybe we go the route

of us-- using cannabis, not in place of chemotherapy,

but in conjunction with chemotherapy.

I went home that night and stayed up

til, like, six in the morning just doing

research on the internet, I contacted

Landon's mom, I contacted other

cannabis friendly groups around the country,

and just try to understand... [sighs] what exactly

this medicine was and why I never had really heard of it.

I mean, I grew up a right wing conservative Christian.

I have a lot of ideas, I had a lot of ideas

about weed leading up to them.

I smoked it for fun, but I never saw it as a sacred plant.

The internet showed me that very sim-- very quickly,

and I fell asleep hoping

I could bring it up with Danielle somehow. Hopefully she'd be okay with it,

because she hated weed, she, she tolerated me

smoking it, but the biggest thing about me

and Larry and Mike was always how our breath smelled.

-[Waldo grumbles] -[sighs]

-You just smoked pot? -[Brian] Yes.

-You stink like... -[Waldo cries]

...you stink like pot.

So yeah, so I wasn't well versed

in, um, our good buddy, weed, I was, like, afraid.

But she was going to school for herbalism

and she was very much into plants

and, and natural medicine, um, so yeah.

That was when we decided we have to do this

and as fast as possible too,

and we have to go to California to get it.

I was intrigued, I was apprehensive,

but I was apprehensive about everything,

so it wasn't, it wasn't as scary to me as chemotherapy was.

[Brian] Yesterday, Waldo, you got sedated for the first time.

I think you handled it like a champion.

Well, stuff wearing off now, yeah.

All that sedation wearing off finally, you waking up?

Waldo, today is your first day of chemotherapy.

You know that, I think you're going to be a champion still,

you've shown me a lot of things about what it means to be strong

already, so I guess

I have no choice but to reciprocate it.

[Waldo babbles]

Show you that I'm strong, too.

Can we do that, can we be strong together?

[Waldo babbles]

We're going to save that eye.

[medical machines beeps]

[Danielle] When they gave him, you know, his first IV

I don't think he cried

because he was so trusting and so sweet

and so happy, always so happy and everybody

always has commented on how happy Waldo is.

You know, it's like, of course, aren't babies happy?

I guess maybe not as happy as Waldo.

The next day though was like, that was Halloween.

Bud, this is your first Halloween.

Perhaps one of the coolest holidays on the western calendar.

Look at you, man, you're some kind of dragon.

[muffled upbeat music]

[doctors] All right, Mr. Dragon.

Good morning, Waldo.

-All right. -[Brian] Let's go, Wald.

[doctor] So, we know that by giving Waldo

this chemotherapy, the goal is that

we are treating the cancer cells

which are rapidly dividing cells,

um, but it's also going to affect all

rapidly dividing cells in his body.

The healthy ones and the cancer ones.

So, bone marrow, because it's always

making these blood cells, is very rapidly dividing,

so this is where we're going to see

some side effects, so think of this as

a little microscopic bleeding under the skin.

-[cries] -[nurse] We, we sometimes sit a little fancy

because we want him to, to--

[Danielle] Not have a bad reaction.

[Waldo cries]

-[nurse] Does that make sense? -Okay. Mm-hmm.

[Waldo cries]

-[nurse] No gagging. -It's okay, baby.

[Waldo cries]

You're doing great.

[Danielle] Good boy, Waldo, good boy.

Stop fussing with me.

[nurse] Now you're turning red.

[Waldo cries]

-[Waldo cries and chokes] -[Brian] Shit.

[nurse] Okay, it's okay, hey, guys, can I have some help, please?

[nurse 2] Coming, coming.

-[nurse] Okay. -[Waldo cries]

It's 5:07 in the a.m. November 2nd, 2014.

In roughly 40 minutes, Larry's going to pick me up

and we're going to travel across the country

in order to acquire knowledge and physical medicine

in the form of cannabis oil, it's highly illegal.

Uh, if it were to be found out,

there'd be a lot of legal ramifications, the least

of which would be Child Protection Services, perhaps.

And I don't care, because I would go to jail for Waldo.

Waldo, if you're watching this.

I was willing to go to jail for you.

I've raised close to $2,000 in two days

to pay for the plane ticket, the rental car

and hopefully some of the medication.

Uh, this is the beginning of a very epic quest.

A life long quest that is starting today.

It started on November 2nd, 2014.

Remember it, there was an important one.

Well, you would need to travel

somewhere that had a legal protocol

if you lived in Pennsylvania to get cannabis

because it was illegal, I mean,

so, for example, if you were caught with it,

uh, there would be a number of potential consequences.

You would be arrested, uh, you'd be charged.

You'd have to hire a lawyer, depending on

how much you had, you could be facing, uh, jail time.

Beyond that, you could lose your child.

You know, I could see, uh, and we have seen children

and youth come in, say, "This guy is,

uh, giving his son an illegal recreational drug,"

and take the kid away from them.

Civil asset forfeiture, if they catch you

with marijuana in your house, they could forfeit your house.

They could take your house from you. If you went

across state lines to get it,

and were caught bringing it across state lines,

uh, then, you would be potentially subject to federal prosecution,

you don't want to go, let's say, to California

and bring back, you know, a three day supply.

You want to bring back a bunch,

if you get, if you got caught bringing back a bunch,

you could be charged with intent to deliver.

That, that is a, a significantly more serious charge.

So, you would be facing all kinds

of civil and criminal problems

just trying to get your kid better.

[soft rock music]

[plane rumbles]

[Brian] Larry and Mike, they had a love affair with that plant for a long time

so they knew a lot about it, they knew

a lot about how to grow it, where to get it.

How to cultivate it, I mean they just.

They were put on this earth to dance with that plant.

Okay, one day, I get, uh, a private message

on Instagram from some guy named jerrybucket

which I thought was a strange name and he has

this story for me, and my response

was that my product is available in stores.

You need to fly to California,

get your medical marijuana recommendation

and go buy this product, you know, sorry, I don't know you,

but I can't help you directly.

But the-- you can legally come to California

and buy it at a store, and the people

who work there will make sure you get what you need.

Because of Larry and Mike, we were put in contact

with not only the leading extract artist in the country,

but, you know, Dr. Dina, who, this is what she does.

Well, I am known in the cannabis industry

as Dr. Dina, I am not a board certified physician.

It's a nickname from Snoop Dogg

because I helped him get his first

letter of recommendation for cannabis.

[Brian] Here's the code, $900 to pay for Waldo's medication.

Waldo, I love you, this is it, don't get scared now.

So, he took that step

and it was really about introducing him to the different

types of products that we have in the store,

and different doses and what would be better for a child

and the next step was actually

getting him in touch with Brandon Krenzler.

Brandon Krenzler is the father of brave Mykayla.

She's another little girl who had cancer,

who's in remission, and Brandon was really the first open parent

to discuss giving his child cannabis oil.

Brian reached out to me, I was just like "Wow."

You know, I, I feel like helping this guy out,

you know, Erin and I would have

conversations about their family and Waldo

and, you know, if he brought something

to my attention that he was concerned about,

we would discuss it as we sat there

and we could advise as best we could, you know?

But we're not doctors, but what we were

able to advise him with helped,

and that was a really good feeling,

and that's kind of the guidance that I offered.

It's just anecdotal, experience

based that we had went through.

None of that, when your, when your child is dying

and your child is really sick.

It, it is alone, and you feel alone, you feel s-- scared.

-Terrified. -You feel like, the entire world

doesn't understand what you're feeling.

It's a connection, this person understands

a very rare journey that you're on,

and understands the feelings of judgment

and the feelings of being happy

that your child is doing better,

but being frustrated that something

that is providing your child an amazing

quality of life is not being used

and offered to every child in America.

All right, so to keep things cool,

I didn't film at all in Dr. Dina's office,

but I tell you what, I'm about to go back

there and pick up this stuff.

She was amazing, she was accommodating.

The whole experience was really positive, um.

I can't believe that just happened.

I can't believe she's a friend.

How's Waldo doing?

Uh, Waldo was nauseous last night,

so he was puking and freaking out

and it was hard to give him his anti-nausea medicine

because he just wouldn't sleep at one point, so Danielle

couldn't give it to him on the eight hour mark,

because it would have just fucked everything else up.

It's just like a waterfall, one thing

creates another, dude, it's annoying.

-[Brian] So, his jaw-- -[Danielle] He's not crying.

[Brian] Medication is causing his jaw to tense up?

-[Larry] Chemo does that. -[Brian] The chemo?

[Danielle] Yeah, it, it gives him, like,

muscle and bone hand stuff, and they--

The doctor said that, um,

you know. There's a possibility that he could

have a hard time nursing, um, because of pain.

[Brian] So you're happy we're out in California.

[Danielle] Yeah, yeah, this sucks so bad, I feel crazy.

I'm really looking forward to not having to be so sick.

So, we get the medicine and we're looking at our watch,

and it's like, okay, we've got an hour to get this thing an overnight shipping,

so it's back to Philly as soon as possible.

And so we went to Target and we bought

a bunch of birthday supplies for some fictional kid,

put together a whole care package for this kid's birthday party and,

somewhere beneath all the nautical

sea creatures and the crayons and the socks

was these long syringes of cannabis oil and an ice pack.

[chuckles]

Then we had to... I don't know if I should talk

about this part, where you're like.

-Where we, you know, we mailed it. -[interviewer] Yeah.

-USPS. -Yeah, you got to talk about that.

[Brian] Larry wouldn't really let me film

because he was terrified of evidence.

[Larry] Get out of here with that evidence. Get out of here with that.

[Brian] What are you talking about?

I remember

this moment, I'm waiting in line.

I got, I got the medicine in my hands.

There's this huge line of people, I'm hot,

Larry's like, Larry's really nervous, not talking.

And we get up to the window, we've got, like, five minutes.

I was nervous that this thing wouldn't

get out for a couple of days, and mind you,

I'd never smuggled drugs before. Every glance, every person, I'm just like, "Oh, my God."

Like, they're going to catch us, or this guy's going to ask us what's in it.

But we got to the post office just in time,

right before it's still able to overnight it,

and we did and I believe we were on the plane that night.

[Brian] And I should say I bought enough

for about eight months, a gram a month, I think.

There was a lot riding on that package because if it got lost,

if it got seized, if it somehow was held, I, I had no idea

what we would do with Waldo's chemo treatment going forward.

And waiting for it, we were back in Philly.

It's like, finally it shows up.

The package wasn't held anywhere.

We get it from the address we got it

and we opened it up and, you know, there it was.

-[Danielle] Clothes? -[Brian] Clothes.

[Dr. Dina] What we figured out

from, from other parents learning

is that if you mix coconut oil

in with the cannabis oil, it helps the absorption.

You can also give less oil to the patient

because they're absorbing more of it,

so if you just put in oil in a capsule

and take it or oil on a strawberry and eat it,

your stomach acid's going to kill most of it,

but if you put it in coconut oil

you tend to just absorb way more.

So, that helps parents because it's less of a cost.

[Brian] It's going to help you, Wal.

I know you're in pain right now.

[Waldo cries]

[Brian] He's got the lowest dosage possible.

[Waldo cries]

I know.

[Brian] Waldo's been feeling sick

to his stomach and puked when we got here, he's very tired.

Waldo, what's he got?

[Larry] Smells really good, first batch.

[Danielle] Wait, Waldo.

[Larry] He sucks on your fingers all the time.

You just got to get him--

[Brian] Babe, babe, babe, babe, babe, stop. Hold on.

[Waldo screams]

-[Brian] It's okay, aw, buddy. -[Danielle] You think we're good?

-[Brian] Better than a whole tub of syrup. -[Danielle] Hell, yeah.

[Brian] Hey, buddy, hey, hey, it's okay, come here.

[Matt] I'm sure it costed a lot of money

in flights and hotels and all that,

and I, I still feel guilty to this day

that I didn't just help him directly, but it's illegal

and I didn't know who we was and...

it was some weird Instagram account, and it was.

I, I, I didn't know these people, and, uh,

I made them fly all the way to the West Coast

and I just, I still feel bad about that.

-[soft music] -The messages I get are brutal.

It's like every day, I wake up and it's 10 or 20 messages a day

of people who really need help

and who are really suffering, a lot of them

are terminal, but then I get one or two

messages a day of people whose life have been changed.

This is the life saver right here.

This is the one that changes people's lives.

The plant behind us is known as ACDC.

That's its strain name, it's 20 to 1 CBD

to THC, which is what makes it rare.

It's, uh, it's the plant that you can give

to people and it won't get them high.

Well, see, this is important to talk about.

People seem to be concerned when,

when it comes to children and cannabis, you know,

because cannabis has its own stigma

and then, when you introduce children to that

and it gets really weird for people,

but what they got to understand is

what Waldo's taking specifically,

that is a plant that is grown with very little THC.

THC is actually the thing, that, that high feeling, right?

The compound that makes up

the cannabis plant, CBD, it's mostly that.

CBD is found in cannabis,

mostly more of a hemp plant, but in the female plant

it was there, back 20 years ago.

All these strains were CBD filled,

so all of these growers actually spent years

breeding CBD out of the plant.

Which is why the THC content started

soaring in all these different strains.

Then we realized, whoopsies... [laughs]

the best part of the medicine is what we're actually breeding out,

so they started breeding it back in.

And now, because we've only really been

experiencing the positive results

of CBD for, like, five years,

that we've actually been able to play around

with this plant in the right numbers.

Starting to smell nice.

[Jess] I feel like a lot of the issue

nowadays are people spraying their plants

with different pesticides or fungicides.

We try to focus on the most natural way

of growing the plant and organically.

Not spraying it, doing, like, a natural

kind of preventative for pests and mold.

So, we just try to make the cleanest medicine as possible.

That's why you see me doing, going picking leaves off, that's just part

of the physical labor that we do.

My mom passed away from cancer

at, uh, like, age 59. I was in California

when she had cancer and she couldn't

try cannabis medicine because she was on,

like a cancer trial experimental drug

where they'll take her off the experimental drug

if she fails a drug test,

so I couldn't give her cannabis medicine.

A lot of what I do now is try and help other people,

who are, could, like Waldo, who could die from cancer.

[Waldo babbles]

[Danielle] After the first time of giving him the oil,

probably within an hour at the most

he lightened up, smiled a little bit.

Was hungry, was, like, happy again sitting up.

I remember coming upstairs and I, I just

walked upstairs to the sound of laughter.

Like, just, everyone's laughing,

they're laughing at Waldo, he's crawling around.

He's making jokes, like, he was

back to himself, I couldn't believe it.

It seems, like, too good to be true,

but it was real and...

I felt like, I could just like... [sighs] like, breath out

and just be like, "Okay, this maybe

is going to, like, be what helps us

get through this nightmare."

[Brian] Wallet, phone, keys, bag.

[door thuds]

[Brian] All right, day two of treatment.

In the last 36 hours, we've noticed

remarkable improvements in Waldo's

general overall mood, we've noticed

improvements in his, uh, nausea, there hasn't

really been any, there's been a little bit, but it's been tiny bits of puke.

We're noticing a return to form as far as laughter and, uh, general--

-Rolling around. -Rolling around, curiosity.

Ability to joke around and crawl.

We gave him a dose at 6:30 this morning.

He slept very soundly, he ate a lot.

-or, at least, a healthy amount. -He ate okay.

-[Brian] Yeah, Danielle's a... -Had wet diapers.

...Danielle's a good scientist.

He's not dehydrated like he was the other day

when he was throwing up and not eating enough.

[Brian] And when's the last time you've given him any kind of pharmaceuticals, uh,

or, like, over the counter Benadryl or anything like that?

Two days ago.

[Brian] Okay, and what-- where are we going today? What are we doing?

[Danielle] Checking his white blood cell count.

[Brian] Checking his white blood cell count.

[sighs] All right, um, November 6th, 2014.

I've got a lot of hope today, a lot more hope than

I've had in a long time.

I'm Scott Chipman, I'm the Southern California

Chair of CALM, Citizens Against Legalizing Marijuana.

You know, we're 100% in favor of patients

getting what they need, but we're

also 100% in favor of protecting patients.

With any medicine, you have to measure

the bad with the good, and if the bad

outweighs the good, then it's not efficacious.

You know, I could say that, um, bourbon makes me

feel good, so I'm going to call it medical bourbon.

But it's not medicine, and that's what we see

going on in the, uh, in the pot industry today, too.

It makes you feel good, so how could it be bad?

It's got a green cross on a glass door,

so kids think, "Well, how could it be bad

if they're calling it medicine

and adults are encouraging people

to use it, uh, so it can't hurt me."

The biggest problem is these stories.

These anecdotal stories about somebody

who feels better, or somebody who's

cured of cancer, uh, as a result of, uh, using pot.

Those stories get out to the general public

and so everybody thinks, "Oh,

jump on this pot, drug addicting, uh, bandwagon

and, uh, it can't hurt me because we've legalized it,

we've medicalized it, uh, we've commercialized it."

It's completely irresponsible to just say,

"I heard CBD help somebody and so, let's just

put it out on the market and have everybody using it."

First, first of all, almost all CBD

that's on the market is contaminated.

It's got pesticides, it's got THC.

It's not labeled correctly, its potency is all wrong

and that's the FDA sending out

warnings to companies who are just

throwing CBD on the market, um,

because that's the buzz word of today in health, is CBD.

CBD oil, organic CBD,

it's a bunch of BS and people are being taken advantage of

who, uh, see this advertising and just

go out there and start taking it.

[Brian] All right, we just got Waldo's first,

uh, blood tests back, um, thankfully,

his platelets are good, his hemoglobin is good.

Uh, his white blood count is low, which they expect.

Hopefully, it doesn't go lower.

We were making up the fact that we're doctors.

We were having to pretend, but Danielle started to keep a log.

You know. We said, "Well, let's be scientific about this.

Let's pay attention to how much we're giving him and when,

how it affects him and how it doesn't.

Okay, we've heated up the medicine.

[birds chirp]

Just a head of a pin, very low dosage.

-[Danielle] Come here! -[Brian sings] Waldo!

My background is in emergency

and childhood medicine, I chose to go a nursing route.

I did that for about 12 years

and I got a lot of experience, and I got a lot of experience

working with people and patients, and seeing

modern medicine and pharmaceuticals,

and I have a great respect for it,

and I don't turn my back on it, but there's other ways.

The, like, horrible, horrible side effects

from chemotherapy, like, things that,

you would never want to, like,

stay on the page too long as you're reading about,

you know, "This medication can cause--" Um,

our oncologist kept asking every time

that we would see her, she would say, "How's his hearing?"

Because one of them can cause deafness.

-[Danielle] Waldo. -[Brian] Waldy.

What's up, Waldus, how you doing, man?

[Brian] At that time, um, I didn't really have anyone to talk to.

I wasn't really comfortable talking about or didn't know how I could.

I don't have any adjectives left

to describe how I feel,

I don't even know why I'm filming this all right now.

We just-- we're in a hospital for 14 hours.

So, Dad Cam really ended up being like a therapist.

Um, it was just this little robot that I felt like

I could say anything to and not have to

feel, you know, judged or really anything.

I could just say it and not really worry about it.

[sighs] I know this is hard, Waldo, it's probably

one of the hardest things you'll ever have to deal with,

maybe not.

[soft music]

I can't say that it's going to be better

or it's going to be okay or it's going

to be all right, but I can tell you

that I'm going to be with you through it.

Hey, bud.

[gently kisses] Hi.

I'm Staci Gruber and I'm the Director

of the Cognitive and Clinical Neuroimaging Core

here at McLean Hospital, I also direct

something called the MIND program.

Marijuana Investigations for Neuroscientific Discovery.

Remember that every great discovery

began with anecdotal findings,

and so when people say, "Oh, that's all anecdotal,"

I always say, "Absolutely true, it's what we have

and it's what made us sit up and pay attention initially."

Like, "Hey, maybe there's something to this.

We should be looking at this more thoroughly."

I think initially, people explored

the use of cannabinoid, uh, base products for cannabis

for palliative care, so for the treatment of things like, nausea and vomiting

associated with chemotherapy or, um, increasing appetite.

But there's a big question now

about going beyond palliative care.

So, not just addressing the symptoms

of treatment, but actually being able to shrink tumors.

Being able to really get at the core of the problem

and I think that it's a very exciting time, now,

uh, in terms of the potential for cannabis and cannabinoid based therapies.

We need a lot more research, but clearly

there's some evidence, um, that some of the constituents

from the plant may actually have effects on tumor

and may shrink tumor growth and prevent tumor growth.

That's incredibly important for a number

of indications, not just cancer, but it's important.

Anecdotal findings often lead to tremendous discovery.

[Waldo and Brian laugh]

[Waldo laughs]

[Danielle chuckles]

[Brian] It's, uh, round four of Will's Eye Institute today.

We're over the halfway point,

tomorrow is CHOP for chemo and Friday, chemo and all that.

They would send us home with prescriptions

to go pick up, anti-nausea medication.

A laxative, things like that.

And we would still pick them up because we didn't want

to, like, have them like, "What are you-- wait.

Why aren't you getting your medications?" You know.

But I just kept them in the closet, you know?

I was like, "Oh, here's our bags of medications

that he doesn't take because he doesn't need them."

[people chatter]

That's a lot of milk.

-[Danielle] All right. -[nurse] Good, pace yourself

as you go through this, you know?

It's, you know, six months, it's a lot

of ups and downs and decisions.

Just know if you can see through the tunnel,

everything's going to be okay in the end. We just, we have to make a few

-little decisions here and there. -[Danielle] Okay.

[nurse] All right, doing well, everything's good.

[Danielle] Okay, other than just the, um--

-He's a happy little guy. -[Danielle] Yeah.

You two have gone through all of this so far.

He comes in and he doesn't run away from us

or, you know, cry when he sees us, so whatever

you guys are doing, you're doing it right.

[Danielle] Thank you.

[Brian] Whatever you guys are doing, you're doing it right.

[soft music]

Remember this day, 2015, you're incredibly content.

♪ When love shines out ♪

That's it.

[Brian] He didn't need one blood transfusion.

He didn't need one platelet transfusion the whole time.

He maintained his weight and at some points gained weight.

The only thing that really you could tell

about Waldo to, you know, gather that he was

going through chemo was the fact that he didn't have any hair.

[Danielle] You're doing good, honey.

[Brian] Hey, man, I'm here for, uh,

my son's last day of chemo at the Wood Center.

-No problem. -[Brian] Can I get a little hand touch?

-Right. -[Brian] Yes, yes, thank you.

-[guard] Come on back. -[Brian] Thank you.

[Danielle laughs]

Man, this is so cool.

You would never remember this moment

but I will remember this forever.

[Waldo babbles]

[Brian] Yeah, you're going to remember this too, then?

Cool, well, you're talking to your future self.

He'll be glad you got this, love for you, Waldo.

[Waldo babbles]

-[Brian] Yeah? -Da, da, da, da.

[Brian] Man, you got a lot to say today.

[Brian] We're here for one last day, dude.

One last day, one last day, here we go.

-[Danielle] There we go. -[indistinct chatter]

[camera clicks]

[woman] I love this so much.

[camera clicks]

[upbeat song plays]

[all laugh]

[Danielle] Oh, my gosh, oh, my gosh.

'70s, so good.

[Brian] Waldo James Mysterious, you've just completed chemo.

How do you feel, I'm turning it off now.

[all] Waldo, Waldo, Waldo, Waldo.

Waldo, Waldo, Waldo, Waldo. Waldo, Waldo, Waldo, Waldo.

[Brian] Hey, Wal, congratulations, man.

You're done with chemo, no more tumors.

-[Waldo cries] -[Danielle] Goodnight, guys.

[Brian] Congrats, dude, wonderful day.

-Love you, babe. -[Danielle] Love you too.

[Danielle] Yeah, like, it didn't feel like we needed

to tell them why, you know, we didn't

need to say, like, well, little did

you know we've been using cannabis oil,

but it did feel, like, interesting

to, like, kind of know that we had

this, like, card up our sleeve of, like,

"Yes," and, like, wishing that we had more, like.

You know, could separate it more and see, like,

what actually, like, helped, you know, like,

break down the tumor. Um.

-[Waldo cries in the distance] -[laughs]

[Brian] Yeah, I couldn't do anything else

with him while he was there.

[Danielle laughs]

Come on over. [laughs]

Right, we're talking about him anyway.

But yeah, if, um, I think, yeah, it felt like

anybody would want to hear that, that news

at the end of, like, a long struggle that your baby's all clear.

[Danielle laughs]

[Waldo babbles]

[Brian] So yeah, you'd think when chemo ended

that was kind of like, "All right.

You've gone through the hardest part.

You are more aware of yourself.

You're more connected to your family.

Waldo's tumor free," that's actually

when life got really, uh, it just changed

because now I was cut loose into

the real world of people's opinions and stigmas,

and I had to keep this shit a secret still,

and it burned me up because I had

so much hope I wanted to share,

and I seemingly couldn't share it

with anybody, not even my own family.

I think I was scared, because I didn't know

anything about it, and I knew it was

a form of marijuana, so I thought,

"Holy crap, my nephew's getting high," you know?

Um, actually, I, I just heard in his voice.

Like, when he would explain it, um,

that he had done his homework

and that he was, he was not just doing it because

he was, like, a pothead trying

to make a point, like, he was desperate.

[indistinct chatter]

-Hey. Oh, I know, same with him. Hi. -[Brian makes playful noise]

[Bridget] So, we were in Pennsylvania, we rented a house together.

This was, I think, uh, Waldo was about one year old

at that point in time,

so he had been using, the, the oil for, for that long.

My brother was super passionate.

Like, very intense that whole weekend.

When he was being so passionate about it, we--

I definitely wasn't quite ready

for hearing about all-- I didn't believe

all the, like, amazing things that

he was telling me about this thing or why it was such a--

I, I still had it in my mind

that, "Well, this is illegal and this is not okay."

Oh, my gosh, your little face.

Your little lips, oh, my gosh.

[Brian laughs]

He's like, "Who are you, crazy lady?"

[Brian] No, he does it to all-- He's like

I just crushed you with my face.

-Oh, my God. -[Waldo babbles]

-You see it? -[Brian] Let's go, Wal.

-[Bridget] Let's test Cam, a different Cam. -[Brian] Waldo,

-that's your cousin. -[Bridget] Say, hi. [chuckles]

[Brian] You guys always drink together.

[Bridget] And one night, we were playing a game.

My dad said something about his shoulder pain or something.

We were playing a board game. It was really innocent, it was like Pictionary

or, you know, one of those kind of games.

And he is-- he was trying to do a motion

of, like, throwing a javelin, I think?

And he, he couldn't do it because his shoulder

hurt really bad, and he'd taken

some Aspirin or something and it wasn't helping,

and I said, "You know, Dad, I got some medicine

in a jar that would really help your

-arm, I think." -My dad didn't like that comment

and then, like, one thing spiraled into another

and it was, like, a huge blow up.

And so I felt that he just really pushed the issue, I'm like, "Why not?

Why, I don't understand, it's helped Waldo.

I mean, it's helped-- why can't you just open

your mind to it," and it was really forceful,

and they began even questioning, like,

in so many words, how can we

really know what helped Waldo, like, you know.

And I, I was just so livid,

Waldo's sleeping upstairs, I ended up just

pissing everyone off, I did, I hurt everybody.

I started speaking really strongly.

We went to bed not speaking to each other.

I was pissed, we were all pissed.

It, it was the first time that I actually

saw how angry I was.

Here I was, thought I was trying to, like, speak the truth

or do something good and

in fact I had accomplished the exact opposite.

I had scared everybody, and they all left.

[somber music]

[Brian] We actually haven't talked for a year.

It's kind of heavy, but my parents

and I aren't talking right now.

Because, because I can't help but want to share--

I guess I'm a little hot under the collar

when it comes to cannabis, and it's,

it's kind of like politics or religion, you know,

they say never talk about that with your family.

Well, when we get together, all I want to

talk about is weed and how it helped Waldo.

♪ Nobody going To break my stride ♪

-♪ Nobody going to school me ♪ -[Brian] Oh, shit.

♪ I got to keep on moving ♪

[Brian] I started to spend my, uh, energy

being an advocate for medical marijuana.

So I, I started to call myself Dadvocate.

So, hello again.

[Brian] I got to meet the governor,

I got to meet senators.

I got to share my story with other moms and dads.

This is becoming a much more politically safe topic.

[Brian] We thought that, that the path that seemed logical

was we're going to help join the conversation

so that we can pass this bill, so that

Waldo can have access to this medicine

and all Waldos like him will have

free access to this, in this state, at least.

That's what the thinking was.

I am Tom Wolf, Governor of Pennsylvania.

Uh, I have, I've been supporting the, the legalization

of medical marijuana, and I think Senator Folmer,

Senator Lee said the same thing,

that one of the things that

would really help us as we think about

what we want to do with medical marijuana

is just get the facts out,

just to have people understand what we can do.

What, what it would mean to allow doctors

to treat their patients with the medicine

they'd like to treat their patients with.

Let me just make sure everyone knows,

Senator Folmer, could you stand up

and let everybody-- I think

you all know Senator Folmer, right?

[people applaud]

I'm a believer in cannabis as medicine, firmly,

and I am, I am very comfortable in my relationship

with my Savior on this whole issue.

I don't use it for drugs, I don't

use it to get high, I don't use it

to get, to get a buzz, it can be used for my health.

It can be used to make me better

and, and God gave it to me for that aspect.

[Brian] I just thought, cool, we'll help

join the wave of people that really like

cheering on this bill, but it gave me

the very clear perspective of,

like, how many people actually wanted access to cannabis

and didn't have it, people whose

mom was dying or their son had cancer

or their, their uncle, or their whoever, their best friend.

Like, people saw us as a, as a resource of information,

but I was-- I kind of had my hands tied.

I can tell you what, what I did, I got a ticket

and flew across the country and snuck it over.

It's still not-- I can't, I can't get you this medicine.

And then I actually started getting people this medicine.

[plane rumbles]

[Brian] LA.

You know, I met parents who--

they didn't know where else to get it.

They were as clueless as we were.

They didn't have Larry and Mikes.

They didn't have people that were knowledgeable

with this, so they were meeting

shady folks in basketball courts in Pittsburgh,

so we took it upon ourselves to start

to kind of create this underground

circuit of medicine, I think Larry

must have made, like, over a dozen runs in one year,

going from the west coast back to here

bringing medicine to other parents, to other patients.

Larry and Mike at that point really

stepped into their role and kind of

blew me away with their compassion.

I mean, considering they're seen

as drug dealers, their hearts were gigantic.

[Waldo babbles]

[Danielle] Oh, my gosh.

[Danielle cheers and applauds]

[Brian] You got to understand, like, that went

from an incredibly hopeful Spring

to then trying to put myself out there

and be like, "Hey, weed's okay," and then,

wouldn't you know it, Waldo's cancer came back.

[sighs] Yeah, so after he had been totally clear,

the following year, he had some,

um, little tumor seeds pop back up.

[Brian] What really was frustrating to us

was the fact that, apparently, with this type

of cancer, it has, like, a 90% chance of returning.

We'd weaned him off the cannabis oil at that point,

and I wish we hadn't because as soon as they're like, "The tumors have returned,

We need to go back into chemo," we were just like, "God."

We've learned that with all of our cancer patients,

I had people that had been cancer free and in,

in remission for ten plus years.

They take their oil every day as a maintenance dose.

So, we've learned from different people's experiences.

[Danielle] But it was less intense because

it was one day a month for three months.

We would go in, they would put him under

and then do this procedure

where they would feed the medicine directly

into the back of his eye through this, like, catheter

that went through his, um, veins and arteries

and then came up to the ophthalmic artery

and, psh, went right in there and diffused the medicine.

-[people chatter] -[Brian] Do you guys want me to talk to him?

[Waldo cries]

Yeah, we had to go back into chemotherapy for a second time.

[Danielle] Hey, Waldo.

You're doing a great job.

Little shaky?

[Brian] Good work today, dude.

[nurse] Oh, my, going to feel a little cold.

-[Danielle laughs] -[nurse] Going to feel a little cold. Cold.

Did it tickle? It tickles? Oh. Ticklish?

[Brian] All right, bud.

[Bridget] You go to to daddy.

Yeah! Good work today, dude, good work today.

[Brian] So, this second round was, um, it was much easier

by comparison because we knew what to do.

It wasn't, like, uh, so scary for us.

We're like, "Yeah, back to the drawing board,

let's keep giving him weed.

[bowl clanks]

[water pours]

[bowl clinks]

[Danielle] Okay, that's good.

One, two, three.

[Danielle and Waldo scream]

One, two.

[Waldo screams]

[Brian] It's crazy, you had chemo yesterday, Waldy.

I mean, to this day he still takes it because we're not taking any chances.

I mean, until he's five, he's going to pretty much need to be taking this

every day, because the cancer might come back.

[somber music]

[Brian] That's when I started to kind of like,

go off my rocker a little bit.

Here I was still trying to put on

the face and be Mr. Business, be Mr. Pizza.

Every week was going into these hospitals

to go with Waldo, having this little

semblance of hope that, yeah, we got this secret

and it's helping us, but what about everybody else?

You know, there were kids that started chemo

when he did that had, now, had half a brain,

that radiation had begun, that had died.

Like, this is just everyday life.

How do you really take time after a crazy

life event like that, where you just

didn't know what was going to happen,

and now you're all still here, but no one's

really been able to process it in a way

that's, like, articulate,

so you're just left with, like, life as it is

and you go back to life, and life

isn't the same, you're not the same.

Pizza Brain.

And this is, you know, this is me.

I'm admitting, like, I was changing,

but I didn't know how to really talk about it.

When people would come up to me and ask me, like,

"Hey, how's the kid," and they had no idea

he'd even gone through chemo.

I was just like, I couldn't be in that position

for a while, so, my business partner

sat me down... [sighs] and basically began with,

"We've been noticing that you're just

not the same person you were, we're noticing a change.

Mainly, you're not as committed as you used to be."

Instead of trying to explain myself

I just started being a total dick.

That conversation, all of us just hurt each other

so much, and I was getting so upset.

The end of the conversation

was them saying, "why do I talk so much about weed?"

Why am I always at Larry and Mike's smoking weed?

What they didn't know is we were hanging out

mixing medicine for my son.

I couldn't tell them that Larry and Mike

saved my son's life because I was afraid

that they would, I don't know,

react in a way that wasn't helpful to my family.

So, they're, like, chastising me

for being so passionate about a plant that saved my son's life.

They don't know that, of course. So, I can't blame them,

but, I, I separated

myself that day, I just said, "whoever

you are and whoever I am, we don't

see things the same way, and I can't do this anymore."

Something became very crystal clear to me,

that if I was going to continue on

I needed to find a more productive way

to join the conversation myself.

Even if it just meant I need to move

somewhere where I don't have to pretend anymore.

Where I don't have to travel across

the country and spend the last bits

of my life savings just to treat

my son's eye cancer, like, that's silly.

Okay, uh, I thank you for being here

and thank you, everyone, for being here.

This is a great, great day for Pennsylvania,

but, but more important, this is really

a great day for Pennsylvanians.

We're not re-- responding to a special interest here.

We're not responding to somebody

who makes campaign contributions.

We're responding to people here

who are telling us that there is

a real human need, here in Pennsylvania,

and we did that, we responded to that.

So, I want to thank the advocates.

[people cheer and applaud]

[man] It's law. Yeah!

[people applaud]

[Daylin] And welcome to a new day in Pennsylvania.

This is a monumentous piece of legislation.

This is the most important piece

of social legislation we have passed in 30 or 40 years.

Marijuana is medicine and is coming to Pennsylvania.

[crowd cheers and applauds]

[Brian] An open letter to every single one of Waldo's

friends, families, buddies, uncles, aunts,

internet based acquaintances, casual observers

and the like, on April 20th, 2016.

Today is a very special day,

because I'm about to publicly share something

that Danielle and I have been keeping a secret,

holding it in, for well over a year now.

It's this, Waldo uses weed to fight his cancer.

Best, Dadvocate, aka Waldo's dad.

[mouse click]

[Waldo chants] Da, da!

Here we go.

[Brian] But cannabis, even though it's, uh, technically

legal here, or the bill passed,

it won't be available for a couple of years,

so we need, we need to go to a place where

it's readily available, and I don't have to

pretend I'm a criminal to do it.

We have to just kind of go to the medicine.

We started to notice that it was time to move on.

♪ We'll meet again ♪

♪ Don't know where ♪

♪ Don't know when ♪

♪ But I know we'll meet again ♪

♪ Some sunny day ♪

♪ Keep smiling through ♪

♪ Just like you always do ♪

♪ 'Til the blue skies... ♪

[Brian] Why's my family leaving Philadelphia?

We're exhausted.

I was really angry... [chuckles] at a lot of things

because I thought I was doing the right thing

and everywhere I turned, things were breaking.

Uh, my parents weren't talking to me.

My business partners and I had pretty

much separated completely, we also just

didn't have the money to travel across the country

every time we needed to get Waldo his medicine.

I, I don't want to go, but I have to.

[people chatter]

We left Philadelphia with a credit card, about 400 bucks

in cash, and one way tickets to San Francisco.

I feel like as soon as Larry and Mike

hugged us and drove away, I was completely released...

-[Danielle] You were released. -...from feeling all the sentiment

and nostalgia of a place I've lived in for 12 years.

[Brian] He's ready.

-Ready? -[Danielle] Just keep rolling.

[Brian] At this point in my family's life

we really don't know what's going to happen.

I mean, I dreamed pretty hard up until now.

I thought I had a pretty good plan

of what I thought my life was going to look like at 31,

but now that we've made the decision to go

I'm kind of excited because this is a new chapter.

Like we truly are on the bleeding edge

of our family's story,

we have no real idea what's going to happen.

[Danielle] Almost there, we have one more gate.

Don't give up now, one more gate.

[Brian] And I do think there's a distinction

between walking away from something

and walking towards something, and the excited part of me, the one that's

not nervous and kind of terrified, uh, knows that,

I don't know, there's something we are actually walking toward.

I don't yet know what it is,

but that's what adventure is,

that's what a quest is.

-[Danielle] We landed. -[Daylin] A number of people

in Pennsylvania had moved.

They became basically cannabis refugees.

A person who wanted medical cannabis

in Pennsylvania in 2016 still had some problems.

Uh, the bill was signed April 17th, 2016,

by the governor, um, but that doesn't mean

on April 18th, it's available in, in, in a store.

First, you have to draft regulations.

Uh, based on those regulations, a process

to determine who gets the licenses to grow.

Those facilities, once those licenses

are awarded then have to build.

Once the, the grow house is built,

you have to plant a seed and it has

to grow and there has to be a crop and then

it has to be processed, so, from

April 17th, uh, 2016, until the first dispensaries

were open was about a year and a half,

uh, and so someone like Brian, a year and a half

is too long... [chuckles]

the, the, this is not

uh, the country we want to be.

[Staci] The history of cannabis is rather extraordinary

and there's no other substance that I can think of

that's had such a storied past.

From, you know, the very first documented

use of cannabis as medicine goes back thousands of years,

and it was part of the US Pharmacopoeia,

uh, starting in 1850, which meant that doctors

could and did prescribe it, there was

no certification process, they didn't

recommend that you use it, it was a prescription

which meant that you could go to a pharmacy and get it.

It fell out of favor through a number of,

uh, for a number of reasons, um, mostly political.

It's interesting that in 1937

when the, uh, United States government

enacted the marijuana tax,

one of the most vocal opponents to that tax

was the American Medical Association,

who claimed at the time we, we shouldn't

outlaw this stuff because we think

it may be helpful, it needs to be studied.

I believe very strongly that cannabis

and, uh, specifically some of the cannabinoids

in cannabis are-- they qualify as medicines

and there is some research to support

that it's not just something that is a,

you know, it's lucky that this is having

some sort of benefit in patients.

Uh, we have cannabinoids in our body.

We produce natural cannabinoids

called Endocannabinoids that have

defined receptors in our body that receive

these cannabinoids and send a signal

to the cell to do one thing or another.

To act in a particular way in response

to these cannabinoids, some of these responses

might be beneficial in certain diseases like cancer.

The Endocannabinoid system is one

of the most understudied systems that we have.

Chemicals and receptors that respond

to chemicals within the plant.

We also have our own system of chemicals.

Anandamide and 2AG, which we make on our own.

That's the Endocannabinoid that we make,

that's our chemical. And that's really

what the receptors are for... [chuckles] but in fact

these things in the plant, Phytocannabinoids

interact effectively, so we are wired for weed.

Again, for, for every story you hear

of cannabis cured my cancer,

you hear that, uh, coffee enemas cured my cancer

or, uh, you know, sleeping in an HBO chamber, uh, cured my cancer

so it's, it's interesting, it's worth pursuing

but it's really hard to embrace this

as a clinician and as a researcher

without rigorous scientific study.

In the, uh, 19th century, we had this

thing people called, uh, snake oil, right?

So you got this guy in, in a wagon

and, and a horse and he's riding around

the country saying, "Buy my snake oil.

It's going to cure everything."

Marijuana industry is the snake oil

of the 21st century.

Most of what we know about the effects

of cannabis on the brain, for example,

come from studies of recreational cannabis users,

and it is believed that most

of the decrements that we see related

to cannabis use is linked to THC.

That's important because if you're only

talking about trace amounts or almost none

on board, if you will, um, there's not

necessarily as much to be quote concerned about.

That said, we don't have any longitudinal studies

of kids on whole plant derived high CBD products.

Should we? Of course we should.

Of course we should, um, does that mean

that people aren't going to give this

to their children, if this is literally

their last hope? Absolutely not.

People will do anything, wouldn't you?

[Brian] We're very far from home, although I don't know

where home is at the moment.

I'm going to roll with that, I'm going to let

that be my guide right now.

So, we just started contacting anyone

we knew on Instagram and through the internet.

Different growers and people that had

started contact and follow us since

we went public with our story.

So, I just started contacting

some of them and saying, "We're looking for work.

We're looking for experience, we just want to be around

the medicine and the people who honor it."

It's September 5th, 2016, we came here

without a plan, obviously, and as that has

continued to play out, uh, we don't

feel like there's really a plan revealing itself.

However, it doesn't seem like... [grunts] doesn't seem like

there's really work for us, the current plan as is,

is we're in this park right now

trying to make calls and make contacts

and just figure out the, the next step

forward on this path,

there has been times where I've thought I want

to go back to Philly, Danielle says no.

She said we're never going to get these years back.

We're never going to have this opportunity again

to just be on the road as a family,

without, uh, worrying about a landlord

or school or anything else, any nine to five job.

[Danielle] I always felt in the back of my mind, like,

the end goal is Washington where my dad

and his wife live, so I told my dad

we were coming, um, maybe sooner, maybe later

but he said, "Well, I have a trailer you guys could stay in."

[door thuds]

The day we get into town, we get a call from Danielle's dad, and he says,

"Hey, uh, I think I found Brian a job."

I was at a gas station and I ran into

this lady who recognized me from, you know, my falcons

because he's, like, a falcon farmer, he breeds birds.

-[bird caws] -[Brian] He's like, "Yeah, uh, she gave me her card.

It had a cannabis leaf on it, and I just kind of took a chance and said,

"Hey. My son-in-law's in town today, uh,

you know anybody who could give him some work?"

She absolutely did.

she introduced me to a guy named Paul Lindsay, she said

he was a cool dad who ran a family business.

I had me, I had me a job I think two days later.

Paul and, um, Lori and the whole crew

being so, like, open and welcoming

were like, "Yeah, absolutely, move your trailer here,"

and so my dad hooked up the trailer

on the back of his truck and he moved our trailer over here,

and we don't know how long we'll be

in the trailer, but, um, for now, it's home.

Like, Waldo calls it, "My home."

[soft music]

[Brian] All right, look, Waldo, look at the trailer.

[gasps] What do you think?

[Waldo babbles]

[Brian] Compared to what Waldo knew growing up in Philly.

It was a completely different experience.

[Waldo babbles]

-[Brian] What are those? -[Waldo babbles]

-Goats, yeah. -Oh.

[Brian] By comparison, he was like a caged animal in the city

and now, I was watching him run free

in the forest, surrounded by pigs

and chickens and ducks, it was incredible.

I mean, this is for Waldo's quality of life.

This is for our quality of life.

[Waldo] Oh, uh-oh.

[gate rattles]

[playing flute]

[Brian] I got my first pay day yesterday.

That allowed us to stabilize at least

and just figure out what the next move of.

So, going into that Winter, the slow season

for the cannabis industry, you know,

obviously, a lot of snow and ice.

The family we were working for, I'll say,

just like a lot of situations in that world,

can be kind of tenuous, kind of impermanent.

The more recreational weed becomes a thing,

uh, it does become much more cutthroat.

So, the family we are working with

fell in some hard times and realized there wasn't

really much work, and facing the winter,

as we were, it was just like, "We got to

find something a little more stable for us."

We got to find some place with heat

and Bellingham, which was just a little bit

north of this farm happened to be

the city that, uh, Danielle and Waldo had been spending

a lot of time in while I was working at the pot farm.

[soft music]

Being in a community of people

that are surrounded with the backdrop of, like,

mountains and trees.

More trees than people, beautiful lakes

and oceans and streams and places that we just

get to all go together and enjoy ourselves.

No sooner than maybe a day after

we told each other we need to find a place

with, like, a wood fired stove

we found ourselves at a friend's place,

and Danielle just said, "Man, I would give

anything to live somewhere with a wood fire stove,"

and just like that, our friend wrote a number on a piece of paper, he goes,

"Oh, you should call my friend Bill. He lives down the street,

he's got a wood fire stove and I think

he just had a place open up on his land."

These are our noisy neighbors.

[ducks honk]

[Brian makes explosion sounds]

[Waldo babbles]

-Jump in! -[Waldo laughs]

Do it again.

[Waldo laughs]

Do it again.

[Brian] And then, we were connected to a family

that met up with us, had us over for dinner

and I kind of told them, was very open.

Just like, "I'm looking for work.

You got anything, do you know anything?"

And what happened next was so, uh, unlikely.

It was the far, the farthest thing outside

my comfort zone, I can imagine.

I was offered a job being a Waterproofer.

[machine whirs]

I didn't know what a Waterproofer was.

It entailed me restoring crawlspaces

and foundations in people's houses.

The first day I got there, I was terrified

because most of my life,

I've been avoiding this very kind of work.

Just observing what my mind was doing

while I was in a job that I--

was like. I just didn't want to do it,

I was resisting it for a little bit.

When I actually began to accept that this was my life,

that it was affording me the opportunity to live

in this beautiful paradise and just buy food, pay rent,

uh, some of my edges started to rub off.

I started to just go with it,

and in the going with it and the acceptance of it...

[sighs] I'm really happy right now.

[Danielle] Life in Bellingham is very easy, in a way.

Like, compared to how I felt when I was in Philly,

I think because I felt like I was kind of

walking around in my memories and who I was

before the diagnosis versus after.

I knew that I needed to start over.

And the community in Philly was great

and my friends that I still have there

are so wonderful, but I felt that it was

time to, to like, find a new way to, like, heal.

Wal, can I have some of your pizza?

Could I have a bite of your pizza?

No, no, no, no.

[Brian] Every day I wake up, I am glad to be here.

I am so thankful Waldo's healthy.

I am so grateful to do life with Danielle.

After everything we've been through together.

It's only been, uh, you know, three years, that's not a long time.

[soft music]

On top of that, Waldo having direct access

to that medicine, I mean, to be,

to be able to walk into a store and pick up

what he needs, like, we're picking up eggs and milk.

That's really nice... [chuckles] you know, I mean,

all of the-- up until now, all of that,

that silliness I talk about, all the hoops,

all the money, the plane tickets, the traveling,

the laws, the, like, "what are we going to do?

What happens if we get caught?" Like, all gone,

I'm going to drive to the store.

"Honey, uh, pick up a box of, uh, you know, peanut butter puffs

and let's get Waldo's medicine too 'cause we're low."

Cool, done, happy ending, end of story. [chuckles]

[soft music]

Let's see, for the last, like, year and a half,

I have not felt quite like myself,

um, and I've seen a few different doctors

to kind of, like, figure out why.

I saw one more doctor and this doctor

just, like, sat down with me and was like,

"Well, these are your blood levels.

They're within normal ranges, but they don't look great,

so I'm going to order a whole bunch of these tests

and we're going to get you an ultrasound of

your thyroid," um, and from there,

they found a nodule and they biopsied it

and found out that it was cancer, um, which was crazy.

[doctor] You know, thyroid cancer is incredibly common.

The strategy will be to remove

the thyroid gland in its entirety,

uh, to evaluate the lymph nodes

that are near the thyroid in the operating room.

[Bridget] I knew I didn't want to just

like, remove a gland that controls all my hormones,

so I was thinking of alternatives

for that treatment, and the first thing

that I researched and looked into was cannabis oil.

Some of the reports I read said

that it, like, caused cancer cells to commit suicide

while not affecting other normal healthy cells around it.

As soon as I saw it, it was, it was like a no brainer.

Like, I would try that because it's not foreign to me.

As foreign to me as it would have been

if I hadn't seen my brother and Waldo go through that.

I know that if I were to tell certain

friends or family members, that they would...

have a similar reaction that I did

initially when my brother told me

that he was using marijuana, you know?

Here we go.

[clicks]

So, I just, uh, had my first do-- dose of cannabis oil

and I wanted to share it with you. [chuckles]

I don't feel any different

and I don't know if I'm supposed to,

but, I, I mean,

emotionally, I do, I feel hopeful.

Yeah, I mean, I, I'm doing this

with the approval of New York State behind me...

[chuckles] and it still feels kind of weird,

so I, I give you a lot of credit for...

flying to another state and transporting it yourself.

Like, that took some, some major balls. [chuckles]

You know, like, it really did.

Um, I love you and thank you again

for helping me take my baby steps.

That's true, it is, it was your baby that

helped me take the baby steps. [chuckles]

[somber music]

[Staci] There is no question this is

the most exciting area of medicine

and research I've ever been involved with

in my 20 plus years here, and I think

we're really at the very tip of the iceberg here

with regard to the potential of cannabis

and cannabinoid based therapies.

We now have Epidiolex, approved by the FDA.

FDA just made a historic decision to approve

the first ever prescription drug made from cannabis.

Epidiolex is used to treat people

with severe epilepsy, it just got FDA approval yesterday.

The Federal Agency is approving

a medication derived from a drug

that's still illegal under federal law.

How can Epidiolex be given to anybody

if in fact, it's a schedule one substance.

How can-- the definition of a schedule one substance

is it has no medical value and high abuse liability

and no accepted safety profile.

How can we now say

that there's no accepted medical value,

if in fact we have an FDA approved product?

So, it's, uh, it's an interesting time we're living in.

[soft music]

[Charles] The future of medical marijuana is rather vague.

Uh, there's no doubt there's going to be excitement.

There's no doubt there are going to be lots of studies,

but I, I think there's a, a growing appreciation

for the fact that these natural substances

may actually have a safe therapeutic effect.

It's just a matter of trying to figure out how exactly to provide that.

[soft music]

[Philip] There's no question that we are entering

a, a next phase of what we're knowing

about, not just marijuana in general,

but some of the specific compounds in marijuana.

Now we know that there is an effect there.

Again, the anecdotal evidence suggests

that we have a situation where

there is something promising here.

The question is why, what is that promise?

Like, what underlies this promise?

Why does it work, how does it work,

how much do we need, how do we go from,

you know, a plant that is commonly

associated with getting people high

to something that is com-- hopefully, going to be

commonly associated with getting people well?

That's our goal here, we want to know,

how does this thing work and how do we control it

to the point where it becomes a really effective medicine?

To me, that's, you know, kind of the, the Holy Grail

of biomedical research, is going from

an observation in the community,

you know, anecdotal evidence, to an observation

in the lab, something really interesting,

but maybe not be clinically significant

to an observation in people that is

clinically significant, where now, we can help everyone.

[Matt] I don't want to be a criminal, but I've been

forced to over the past 20 years

because I grow weed and I smoke weed,

but then there's people who grow weed because they want

to be criminals, and I'd say that's the majority

of the old industry.

But now it's transitioning over to legal grows

and professionals, which I'm, personally,

relieved by, because that's what I want it to be.

It's why I moved to the West Coast, I left all my family and friends to have

a chance to not be a criminal anymore.

[Waldo excitedly yelling]

I'll get you.

[Danielle] When we met Matt Rize and Jess for the first time,

like, it felt like we were already connected

and had so much gratitude.

Like, we hugged, you know, and embraced

and, like, there were tears, and they were like,

looking at Waldo like, "Oh, there he is,"

you know, and like, when we have spent time with him

after the first meeting, it's very joyful

and, like, there's always lots of food.

They're very good at preparing food

and making a home and space that's very welcoming and warm.

[Matt] I have a lot of patients and I talk to them,

a lot of them online, but very rarely

do I get to hang out with them and see them.

And, and it all comes together then.

When you're like, "Wow, you had cancer

and now you're just running around screaming."

I try to not get emotional about it, but it's hard.

You know, I wish we could do more.

[Brian] There's kind of an ongoing joke

that Matt and I have where, especially,

the first time I really met him

and really hadn't spoke much about

the significant role that he'd played

in my life, and there was this nice gentle moment,

just like a pause, I was just like,

"Hey, Matt, thanks for saving my son's life."

[chuckles] He just laughed and was like, "No problem, buddy."

-Vegetables? -Yes, please.

No, I don't want vegetables.

Yes, please, thank you.

Want to lead it off, Wal-man? Okay, all righty.

One, two, three, four, five.

[all] It's good to be together.

Yay, hey.

-Three, four, five. -Five, six, seven, eight.

You guys are cute.

[Danielle] I feel like they're family, like,

I feel like, uh, they're people that we don't see

very often, but when I think of them,

like, my heart gets really warm and, like,

I am very thankful for them. And, um,

I feel that we'll know them and be connected

in that way for the rest of our lives.

I don't think there's really a word for it.

Just, like, it's un-describable.

It's, it's, you can't really...

There's no definition on...

just that effect on-- I'm sorry.

I feel selfish to say that I feel lucky

that I got to be a part of that, but I do.

I feel really lucky that we were able to help you guys,

in a way that we could.

So, there's not really a, a word that I can describe

how it feels to have a relationship

with somebody that you...

I feel like more than helped, but I don't know, keep alive.

Like, it's, it's-- There's no words...

unfortunately. [chuckles]

Thank-- thanks, that's a word I got. Capital T, thanks.

Yeah.

[soft guitar]

♪ Somewhere on the border ♪

♪ Between here And somewhere else ♪

♪ There is some peace of mind ♪

♪ Just looking to be held ♪

♪ Buried underneath the smoke ♪

♪ It's starting to get clear ♪

♪ The war is never over ♪

♪ Even when the light is near ♪

♪ After all, there's Still just endless love ♪

♪ Moving against The winds of time ♪

♪ Back from the nights In the storm ♪

♪ Into the days of before ♪

[Brian] He doesn't seem to carry some dark memory

of those times, he's always been a happy kid.

[Danielle] I think it was more trauma for us though.

Feel like I'm a different person.

I feel changed, but not scarred.

No, I definitely feel stronger on the other side.

[soft guitar]

[Brian] Waldo's cancer and the journey

that it took us on, what seemed really dark

at the time or something that might be tragic,

it ended up being an incredible teacher.

Having gone through something that was

really, pretty hard for us, coming out

the other side and seeing where we are.

I mean, how could I be upset?

-[Waldo] Come back here! -[Danielle] I feel I really feel the difference.

Like, you don't know how bright a light is

if you haven't been in the dark. So I feel,

definitely, like, on this other side

I'm like, ah, so thankful to be here, you know?

Whereas before, maybe I wouldn't have

known the difference because

I hadn't gone through such a hard thing before.

[sighs] Waldo, I mean, he's just, he's been

kind of guiding us the whole way.

[Waldo laughs]

He's been showing us ourselves.

I'm the best version of myself

I've yet to know because of Waldo.

Because of the journey he's taken us on, I trust that.

[soft guitar]

[soft music]

♪ When I meet you Going to call you by name ♪

♪ Call you by name Call you by name ♪

♪ Make it the chorus A verse or refrain ♪

♪ One in the same It will be your name ♪

♪ I really Wonder who you might be ♪

♪ But whoever you are Will be all right with me ♪

♪ Okey dokey and doo wah dee ♪

♪ I'm waiting for you ♪

♪ You're coming to me ♪

[soft music]

♪ Steady heartbeat It's right in time ♪

♪ And right in line With yours is mine ♪

♪ Double dare you And double dutch ♪

♪ Skip to my Lou I love you so much ♪

♪ Call you Call you, call you by ♪

♪ Call you Call you, call you by ♪

♪ Call you Call you, call you by ♪

♪ Call you Call you, call you by ♪

♪ Call you Call you, call you by ♪

♪ Call you Call you, call you by ♪