Sophie Ryan's Journey

Sophie Isabella Ryan was born on October 3rd, 2012 weighing in at a whopping 9lbs 7.4oz. She was the picture of health, and everything her parents Tracy & Josh could have ever dreamt of. But when Sophie’s left eye began shaking when she was only 8 ½ months old, a series of doctor’s appointments led to an MRI that uncovered the unthinkable.

On June 23rd, 2013 Sophie was diagnosed with a low-grade brain tumor called an Optic Pathway Glioma that luckily has a 90% survival rate, but unluckily has an over 85% recurrence rate. Even worse, the only option for these tumors was chemotherapy, with few advancements made over the last forty years for kids stricken by ANY form of cancer. In fact, only 8%, up from 3.9%, of ALL government funding goes to pediatric cancer research.

After first completely dismissing cannabis as an option due to being stigmatized about the dangers around the plant, the Ryans stopped and took a second look when celebrity talk show host and movie star Ricki Lake, and her documentary film partner Abby Epstein were connected to them through social media. They told the Ryans about a film they were producing about kids using cannabis for cancer, now on Netflix titled Weed the People, and their lives forever changed. The Ryans soon launched a medical cannabis tincture company called CannaKids that operated for 8-years in California. CannaKids serviced patients of all ages within their state, and consulted thousands of patients around the world working with extremely qualified nurses to provide dosing and guidance.

When Tracy Ryan first met Dr. Anahid Jewett, who is the world leading cancer research scientist in the field of Natural Killer Cells, Sophie was 6 years old and still battling her relentless tumor. At this point Sophie had failed 8 protocols that each lasted 10 to 13 months, unless they failed sooner, had endured 4 brain surgeries and had 11 surgeries in total over her young life. It was Tracy's desperation to find a cure for her young daughter's brain tumor that caused them to cross paths and begin working together. When Sophie required her 5th brain surgery to debulk her tumor, the Ryans saw this as an opportunity to get Sophie's live tissue into mice for a personalized clinical trial. Dr. Jewett immediately offered to help after hearing Sophie's story. But it was when she learned that she had been taking medical cannabis since she was 9 months old, and her unexplainable healing, she became even more interested in learning more. 

When Dr. Jewett tested Sophie's Natural Killer Cells, she discovered her immune function was functioning at impossibly high levels. Especially considering she was on 4 different chemos at the time. She asked Tracy to bring her more patients to test, and 29 cancer patients ranging from children to seniors were enrolled. The findings were groundbreaking and showed a direct link between Dr. Jewett's field of study and Tracy's passion for using cannabis as a medicine

Since this first encounter, Tracy and Dr. Jewett have worked closely to bring forth non-toxic therapeutics for patients in need, including Dr. Jewett's Supercharged Natural Killer Cell therapy. Together, along with their CEO and CoFounder Greg Brophy, they have launched NKore BioTherapeutics to hopefully make that dream a reality in the very near future, so patients like Sophie no longer have to suffer when diagnosed with such a challenging disease.