The Journey to Free Elijah

Elijah is a 6 year old little boy who has a severe form of Autism and was diagnosed on the ASD spectrum at the age of 3. To the eye, Elijah looks like a happy boy with no noticeable differences to the average 6 year old, but what people don't understand is Elijah is far from normal and is unable to speak and often behaves very aggressively. Other symptoms also include impaired communication and social skills, along with compulsive and repetitive behaviors.

During the last 12 months, Elijah's mum and dad have faced many challenging behaviors and countless sleepless nights with Elijah's erratic sleeping pattern. Elijah can go to bed around 7pm and then wakes up again at 2am and is ready to start his day.

Self harming is also a common behavior - Elijah often becomes anxious and will sit and hit himself in the face for hours, until he is left swollen and sometimes bruised, which is very distressing for his family to watch, as all they can do during these episodes is try to comfort him as best they can.

Autistic people see, hear and feel the world differently to other people. If you are autistic, you are autistic for life and Elijah's parents feel they have exhausted all other options and would like to trial a "life changing" medical treatment plan for Elijah, in Auckland.

Tilray, produced by Canadian company which is the first GMP-certified medical cannabis producer to supply cannabis extract products to thousands of patients around the world.

Tilray was first granted an export licence to New Zealand in February and Elijah has been accepted to trial this treatment plan.

Elijah's whanau are the first ones to offer support to anyone fortunate enough to be in their lives. This is our chance as a community to get behind them and show them that they're not alone on their journey!

So, whanau and friends, we have set up this page to support this amazing family through their next chapter and attempt to ease some of the financial costs of this exciting but necessary treatment plan. Please dig deep and share their plea across all your contacts, and let’s show Elijah that he has a special place in our hearts. Every little gift will count and mean a massive amount to Elijah and his family.

Nga mihinui,

Ebony x