At 2 years old, Landon Riddle was diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Prior to this, in September 2012, he had been taken to the hospital due to a sore throat and swollen lymph nodes. He was initially sent home with viral syndrome, but over the next several days, his armpit and groin lymph nodes, as well as throat, began to swell, coupled with his abdomen starting to expand. The throat swelling made breathing difficult. After returning to the ER, the diagnosis was made.
Landon was quickly flown to Salt Lake City for chemotherapy. Due to the aggressiveness of the cancer, including numerous tumors in his chest, doctors said he only had an 8% chance of living 24-48 hours, even with conventional treatment. The medical scan below demonstrates the cancer’s extent:
Although Landon survived beyond that prognosis, he was not doing well. Over 2 months, he was in intense pain, experienced constant nausea and vomiting, developed nerve damage in his legs, and went 25 days without eating. The cancer also spread to his brain, requiring radiation. Pharmaceuticals and painkillers did little to manage the symptoms.
Once hospice was brought in, Landon’s mother Sierra Riddle knew something more needed to be done. She learned about medical cannabis and moved to Colorado to access cannabis oils as a last resort. As soon as he began the oils (one THC FECO and one CBD FECO, started at the same time and administered together), his platelet count improved substantially and soon returned to a healthy level. Landon’s nausea also went away, allowing him to eat again. He worked up to 1000mg THC and 500mg CBD per day in less than 2 weeks, which he stayed at for a year before those doses were lowered.
After 6 months of treatment, Landon was in remission, so Sierra stopped the chemotherapy. Without it, there was no longer any need for blood or platelet transfusions. Due to interventions from Child Protective Services, Sierra was forced to put Landon back on an IV chemotherapy administered every 30 days for 6 months, but was able to successfully refuse the at-home chemotherapy pills. Sierra went to court over chemotherapy and won, allowing her to end chemotherapy entirely 3 years early. Overall, it was estimated he received less than 25% of the original chemotherapy plan.
As of November 2023, Landon, now 13, has stayed in remission with a combination of cannabis, a healthy diet (90% organic), and some supplements. The supplement that appears most important and has been used the longest is Juice Plus, which consists of concentrated fruits and vegetables.
Interestingly, Dr. Sanjay Gupta of CNN covered Landon’s story in an August 2013 segment. At the time, Landon had been off chemotherapy for 3 weeks.
