Cashy was born June 21, 2008 to Mike and Kalli Hyde in Missoula Mt. He came into the world with an older brother, Colton.  Today, he is due to become a big brother in April.

Cashy is very lucky to be where he is at today. You see, at 22 months of age Cashy was diagnosed with a Stage IV PNET brain tumor on his optic nerve.

It was May 3, 2010. Cashy had been sick for a couple weeks, and his mother and father became very concerned. They had been told that Cashy simply had mononeucleosis, and that it would go away.

It didn’t go away. As a matter of fact, it had gotten worse. Cashy was sleeping 18 hours a day, vomiting morning and night, and his left eye had started drifting and drooping. It felt to his parents like he was dying in their arms.

On May 3 2010 the Hydes took their son in for a second opinion, and an MRI. The doctors at first thought they were over reacting but consented to the testing. Thank heavens Mike was so persistent. The Dr entered with the devastating news of the tumor that was 4.5 centimeters in diameter, located directly behind his eyes, and wrapped into his optic nerves. Cashy was immediately life flighted to Salt Lake City.

Not two days later, they performed surgery on this sweet boys brain. They could only get 10% of the tumor and Cashy was left blind and terrified for about 6-8 weeks after this surgery.

Cashy was started on chemotherapy.

During Cashy’s first round of chemotherapy, he had his first seizures from the meds. They lasted 10 hours, and damned near killed his parents to witness it.

This sweet little child was OD’d at one time on Fentanyl, in the hospital.

The drug cocktails they give these children for cancer treatment are unbelievable!

Cashy celebrated his 2nd birthday in the hospital, blind, but happy to be alive with his family.

Slowly, Cashy regained his vision.

After the third round of chemotherapy another MRI was conducted. They found Cashy’s tumor to be completely gone, with only some remnants of cancer cells left at the base of the skull where they had been eroding his skull.

On to the high dose chemotherapy with 3 stem cell transplants on August 18, 2010.

This is where things got really ugly.

This process takes three “rounds” of treatment. The first round, Cashy fared well. The second round is when there started to be problems. It started with a few up and downs, extreme nausea, vomiting, chills, peeling of skin and diaper area, leaving severe diaper rash.

This was too much for Mike. Mike had become a caregiver in Montana to help sick folks, and now his son needed him. He had witnessed the success in his clients.

How could he deny the same remedy to his precious son?

Please see the Virtual Tour here. You will completely understand when you see Cashy.

Mike had some cannabis oil made…..and Cashy has been on it ever since. They started Cashy on his oil in September of 2010.

Within hours, Cashy transformed with the cannabis oil’ on board. At this point in September, Cashy had not eaten in 40 days. He had suffered cardiac arrest, and a stroke. The pain and anti nausea meds had taken their toll on Cashy. Pharmaceutical drugs were killing him.

Within hours of administering the cannabis oil, Cashy improved. He started eating almost immediately, and was again able to sit up, laugh, and play. Mike had insisted to the doctors to stop the anti-nausea and pain meds. In October while waiting for his counts to rise from the damage the chemotherapy had done, Cash developed septic shock and was immediately admitted to the ICU where he suffered stroke, pulmonary hemmhorage, pulmonary hypertenision, and 4 episodes of cardaic arrest which required full CPR, and was placed on full life support. Doctors told the Hyde’s numerous times that they didn’t think cash would make it and gave them the option to remove the life support and let him go.

Cashy’s parents didn’t give up hope and continued on with the life support. After 7 weeks of Cashy being on life support they were able to remove him completely from it and only needed a little bit of oxygen. He was out of Hopsital on December 17th, right before Christmas where they got to spend the holiday with Mike’s loving and caring family until their return home 6 weeks later.

They returned home to Missoula on January 31, 2011 after 10 long months away. Cashy was excelling, and healthy and happy again.

On March 17, 2011 Cashy went to the Montana state capitol to meet Irvin Rosenfeld, and share his story with the politicians.

They displayed their Reggae Racers, IV poles attached to cars for kids in Cancer units. The family makes them and donates them to cancer hospitals for the children, so they can play, and have fun without wires and IV lines impeding their joy.

As Cashy charmed the politicians, they all smiled and laughed at the precious boy. Cashy was so charming and adorable!

Then, they went into session and pushed the green vote button to repeal medical cannabis in Montana, and voted to kill Cashy. The very same day they met him.

In April of 2011, Cash Michael Hyde was deemed cancer free. The boy of steel battled on.

On July 1, 2011 Montana’s “blackmarket bill” aka “repeal in disguise” went into effect. SB 423 is very prohibitive.

In my opinion, no matter how you operate under SB423, you are a criminal.

To try to comply with the law, Mike Hyde cut down his garden of 16 strains and kept one. They never knew which plant had the cannabinoids that helped Cashy. They had dialed back his dosage. Cashy was cancer free.

It was a busy summer of advocacy for the Hydes, spreading the message of Cashy’s success, how the cannabis oil had helped this precious boy. Preaching a responsible message.

In October 2011, Cash went in for his routine every 3 month check up of brain and spine scans.

In July Cashy was still cancer free.

The family was devestated by the news that Cashys tumor had returned despite his energetic and playful ways, he displayed no signs of his cancer being back.

But it was back ,and the tumor was half as big as it was the first time at 2.5cm in the same place, wrapped around his optic nerves.

December 1, 2011 we find the young Hyde Family at Loma Linda Campus in California starting a serious series of chemotherapy. They are squashed into a Ronald McDonald house in a room with two twin beds, for 4 people. Keep in mind, Kalli is pregnant too. The family is undergoing serious, life-threatening treatment for Cashy through a second Christmas in a row.

Thank heavens they have the world-wide support system to keep them elevated through this time, and in good spirits. Shortly after arriving, they were blessed to be part of a fundraiser for Cashy in Beverly Hills. Tommy Chong even made an appearance.

Now….let’s talk about fundraisers. This is my opinion here, so please do not feel this is the Hyde’s opinion whatsoever. They were ever so grateful for the support.

The problem I have with the fundraisers is this, the benefactor walks away with very little after thousands are raised, and all the party costs eat up all the profits. Yay, we have a big party and raise awareness. Boo, the benefactor gets very little money in the end, and they are on the front lines fighting cancer. Fighting for their child’s life. Fighting to keep their family afloat, and happy and safe during such trying times.

I really hope folks think about this in the future, as fighting cancer is SO expensive! If you have a fundraiser for ANYBODY, get those expenses covered before you open the door. Sacrifice “Primo spot” for lower cost. When those parents are sitting next to a sick child receiving radiation, party location is the LAST of their worries. They still have all the regular costs of maintaining a home at home, as well as travel costs, and there is no magic money fairy there, handing over bills.

Shall we talk about medical bills?

Nah….I’m sure you get my drift.

Back to Cashy’s story……..

We were all transfixed, yet horrified to watch Cashy go through the next series of chemotherapy. Mike and Kalli kept everybody updated daily on Facebook, and eventually started Cashy’s Blog, as folks wanted to stay tuned, and follow the Boy of Steel’s progress.

Cashy was undergoing full spinal and cranial radiation therapy. In the blog, you will be privy to all Cashy had to endure. They actually use a mask for what they had to do with Cash, and he had to be intubated and completely knocked out for the procedure each time, as it was done with him on his belly, lashed down to the table and secured so he could not wiggle and move. The radiation beams were very focused, and dialed in.

Now, do you suppose ol Mike Hyde allowed those Doctors to give Cashy any of the anti-nausea cocktails or pain meds this round? He most certainly did not. Cashy Hyde went through SERIOUS full spinal and cranial radiation therapy with absolutely NONE of the pain meds, or anti-nausea cocktails. Only his cannabis oil, and a strict regemin developed by his Father.

As other children lie suffering in their beds, Cashy got out of his every day, and left with his family on days he was checked out of hospital. The entire family came down with the flu in the end of it all, and cashy dropped a lot of weight.

As far as cancer treatment?

He ROCKED it!

Even with the flu and a very low white count, Cashy excelled compared to the other children. He could eat. He could play. He enjoyed his family and a much better quality of life.

These treatments could have left this child blind, or at the least brain damaged for the rest of his life. Myself and the Hydes believe the cannabis oil, with it’s neural protectant abilities, cancer fighting cannabinoids, and anti-bacterial aspects, saved Cashy.

We sincerely believe we will be changing how cancer is treated in America with Cashy’s story.

On December 29, 2011, the family celebrated with dinner at TGIFriday’s.

Cashy’s tumor was shrinking, and the Boy of Steel was doing very well. The tumor had shrunk by over half, and the radiologists could see Cashy’s optic nerves on the MRI scans again. There was a light at the end of the tunnel, and it was not suspected to be a freight train.

Have any of you ever been through radiation treatments? Ever had a close friend or family member go through it? It’s not pretty. Their skin is literally fried off of them in some instances by the radiation therapy.

So, how did Cashy do with burns? He had very slight burns, no more than a light sunburn actually. Why? Well, his parents, yet again, see the magic in the medicine. A local man in California had heard of their story, and brought them a hemp lotion for Cashy’s head. They applied it multiple times every day, Cash even asked for it. There was no severe peeling, and shedding of skin, as the hemp lotion handled the damage to the skin beautifully. There literally was none.

The radiologists reduced the beams, and dialed in smaller to focus tighter on the shrinking tumor.

The Hyde’s hunkered down, and made it through the holidays in a hospital, for the second year in a row.

So, where are the Hyde’s today? How is Cashy?

January 17, 2012 the Hyde Family completed Cashy’s last radiation treatment at Loma Linda, waited for Cashy to recover, and piled into their van to drive back to Montana.

I called Mike shortly after they got home, to welcome them back, and inquire about Cashy. I adore the little fighter man so much.

I was so pleased to hear Mike say “He’s a Rock Star Hiedi, eating like a horse and getting his weight back from the flu. He is doing very very well!”

I cried when we hung up the phone. It’s been a long two years, a long fight, and it ain’t over.

We still have a long way to go.

Cashy IS beating his cancer, and one day I will watch that boy play Griz football. I’ll fight to my dying day to see that.

I sincerely believe that.

That’s not the problem.

The problem is the laws, and the Federal Government. In Montana, we have a very prohibitive law now. The politicians didn’t even have the respect to call our new law medical. It’s “The Marijuana Act”, and it is SO prohibitive that I am of the opinion that anybody operating as patient or provider in Montana is at risk. No matter how one interprets the law, in one way or another, they are a criminal.

Period.

They even took away affirmative defense……we had 36 raids in 9 months. That’s roughly one per week. The media is not good to us either, and we never receive an iota of positive press.

That’s a daunting situation for a desperately ill young boy who relies on cannabis oil to survive his cancer.

That’s also why the entire issue of the next Montana Connect is dedicated to Cashy, and his cause. We will be focusing on the Plight of the Patient. Enlisting more Warriors in the ranks of Team Cashy.

We must protect this family, and share the news of the success. We must help other children, and give them support. We must preach a responsible message, and follow through.

Children’s lives depend on it. Children just like Cashy.

I swore two years ago I would be here in 20 years smacking politicians in the forehead with my magazines, and educating them.

I meant it folks. I hope you will join me in my smack-fest, because that’s ultimately what it is. We’re waking folks up to realities mainstream media never lets them see. We’re promoting it with a responsible message. One that respects the patient. The sickest of the patients deserve respect, and rely on it to save their lives. We’re reaching outside of our industry, outside of the choir.

What is more compelling than a child? A child who knows nothing of law, social stigma, or even medicine. He only knows he wants to live, and play with his brother, cars, and puppy dog. Love his parents, and relish their embrace and love.

Please respect the patient.

Lack of respect is what cost us our law in Montana, and threatens Cashy’s life daily.

Which team are you on?

Me?

Team Cashy…..until I die.

I hope you will join us in our fight.

Please folks, realize, every day, you are fighting cancer too. Your clients who walk in the door may never share with you why they are there, many do, but many do not.

It’s personal, and it’s very frightening.

You may have a Cashy walk in one day, or parents. Desperate, seeking help.

Please, help empower your patients today. Share Cashy’s story, and give everybody a little strength from the Boy of Steel.

Love you Cashy!!!

Please be sure to go on Facebook and Like the Cash Hyde Foundation page. Tune in for Cashy’s Cupids! A fundraiser in Missoula for the Foundation.

Subscribe and donate at http://www.cashhydefoundation.com

The Hyde’s head to Salt Lake next week for another MRI. We’ll see what that tumor is up to.

I bet it’s GONE…..or danged close.

Stay tuned and find out.