Described as “part heartfelt memoir and part exploration of a watershed time and place for medicinal cannabis,” the new book Mighty Flower: How Cannabis Saved My Son by Filipino Dr. Annabelle Manalo-Morgan, Ph.D. details the circumstances that have largely characterized her practice.
A native of Canada, Manalo-Morgan is a scientist, educator, author, and mother of five. As an alumni of Dillard University and graduate of Eastern Kentucky University, she has completed an NIH clinical trial certification and began her graduate work at Georgetown University in Neuroscience. With a doctorate in Cell and Development Biology from Vanderbilt University, Manalo-Morgan has been focused on genetic mutations that mimic the offset effects that chemotherapy has on heart disease.
Shortly after giving birth to her son, Macario in 2016, the two-day old child began suffering from severe seizures that required neurosurgery, which ultimately resected 38% of his brain. His prognosis was not good as doctors predicted a future of limited speech, movement, and uncertainty for Macario plus all the medications required for his recovery left him in a state of permanent haze.
While looking for solutions to save her son, Dr. Annabelle worked to develop the purest and most consistent form of cannabidiol, or CBD oil, with no other cannabinoids or fillers. The result is nothing short of remarkable. Fast forward to three years later, in 2019, Macario is doing as well as his preschool classmates. Today, the boy can walk, run, play, and speak as well as other children of the same age.
“After seeing how this plant saved my son, I felt a strong need to lend my voice to set the record straight, once and for all,” she said. With the clear goal of eliminating the drug’s historical stigma, Morgan-Manalo is looking forward to “an emerging cannabis revolution within medicine.”
“My work doesn’t look back. It looks forward, toward the potential of precision medicine of cannabis medicine, of translational biology and increasing dialogue between holistic care and modern treatment,” she pointed out.
Now advocating as an international speaker for medical cannabis backed by scientific rigor, Manalo-Morgan’s thrust in pursuing “a collaborative effort in translational science with contributions towards precision-based medicine” has not gone unnoticed by the rest of the world. She was recently selected as a Most Influential Filipina Women in the World 2022
Image credits: Troi Santos
