AUSTIN, Texas -- U.S. health regulators recently approved the first cannabis-based drug to treat rare and severe forms of epilepsy.

FDA officials said the move is based on well-controlled clinical trials and one family in Central Texas took part. 

Terri Carriker’s 15-year-old daughter Catherine is living with intractable epilepsy. 

“Her seizure days, shut everything down. Her good days we celebrate and enjoy, you know, every moment of laughter that we can. Basically, it hijacked our lives, it completely controls most aspects of our life,” Carriker said.

Her condition began started when Catherine was three years old. 

“Over the next probably three or four months, her seizures increased. [Catherine] lost language. She lost motor function, and that was it. We basically lost our child and started with a new one,” said Carriker. 

Catherine has had three brain surgeries, nerve stimulation therapy, and even a change in diet. But Carriker said years later the combination of pharmaceutical drugs and therapy have done little to get Catherine’s symptoms under control. 

“She has taken every anti-convulsive on the market. She’s taken them in multiple combinations and at very high doses,” Carriker said. “None of it has ever really had much impact on her seizures.”

Catherine was part of the study for Epidiolex, the first FDA-approved medical marijuana drug to treat rare forms of epilepsy. Epidiolex is a liquid medicine containing cannabidiol, or CBD oil, which is a chemical compound of cannabis.

Catherine’s family is seeing positive changes. 

“She really re-engaged again kind of with us. She would sit and watch videos and laugh about what she was seeing, make one or two word comments, about what was happening on the screen. We just saw more language in general,” Carriker said. 

The number of seizures Catherine had in a week were cut in half. They were also shorter and less severe. 

“There are some patients who have achieved seizure freedom with the Epidiolex and there are some patients who achieve seizure freedom with the CBD oils, but not everybody,” Carriker said. 

For the Carriker family, it is about having options. They know what it is like to have none.  

In a statement, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said:

“This product approval demonstrates that advancing sound scientific research to investigate ingredients derived from marijuana can lead to important therapies. This new treatment provides new options for patients. This is an important medical advance. But it’s also important to note that this is not an approval of marijuana or all of its components. This is the approval of one specific CBD medication for a specific use.”