BECKLEY, W.Va. — Every step throughout her day, from brushing her teeth to cooking dinner, Francie Floyd is protected by a 110-pound black German Shepard.

The brown-eyed, nearly 4-year-old canine, Segen, is a service dog. His black harness with white lettering reads, “Service Dog — Seizure Alert.”

Since Floyd was an infant, she’s been having seizures. A high-grade fever when she was less than two months old triggered the first.

Medication controlled the seizures during her early childhood. But, as she grew older, her body grew increasingly tolerant.

“I call it the floppy fish dance,” she said with a smile as she described her most violent seizures. “You have to put humor into it. If you’re not laughing, you’re taking life too seriously. It can be soul-crushing, so I call myself a fish dancer.”

The Reynoldsville, Pennsylvania, native has tried to take a light-hearted approach to her condition – left temporal lobe epilepsy – although she has between five and 10 seizures each week. Some seizures cause her to lose track of time, from a few minutes to several hours. Others, known as grand mal seizures, cause her muscles to convulse so violently she dislocates her shoulder.

A few years ago, a neurologist suggested cannabidiol (CBD) oil, an extract of the marijuana plant that is not psychoactive, unlike tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) that creates a “high.”

“She told me I could get off all these drugs that were not helping me,” Floyd said.

Floyd, a university graduate, began researching. She read about a young girl named Charlotte Figi who suffered from 300 seizures a day before using CBD but now experiences two to three seizures per month.

“What I found was unreal,” Floyd said. “It gave me so much hope.”

But because medical marijuana is illegal in West Virginia, she does not have access.

“I wouldn’t be in this nightmare situation,” Floyd said, tears welling in her green eyes. “I’m sick of being overmedicated. I’m sick of having seizures. I’m sick of the list of things these medications do to you.”

Although many individuals, like Charlotte Figi, have had successes with CBD oil, the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) has not given medical marijuana its stamp of approval for epilepsy – simply not enough evidence is available to determine if the drug can impact the condition one way or another.

AAN reviewed studies in 2014 on medical marijuana’s benefits for a number of conditions, such as epilepsy, Tourette Syndrome, Huntington’s Disease and cervical dystonia, but only enough evidence was available to reach a conclusion for multiple sclerosis. The study found strong evidence that medical marijuana can alleviate symptoms of spasticity and central pain in multiple sclerosis patients.

Because marijuana and its extracts remain categorized as Schedule I, the same as heroin, studies have been limited because of a lack of access to the drug in a laboratory setting.

In February 2016, a bill to decriminalize and legalize marijuana in West Virginia was introduced, but action wasn’t taken on the proposal. However, Gov. Jim Justice stated his support for legal marijuana and says adult use should be considered in the future.

Floyd has never tried self-medicating with marijuana. She’s too afraid of the legal repercussions.

And yet, because of the particulars of her situation, Floyd doesn’t feel like she can just pack up and move to a state that permits medical marijuana.

She is hopeful West Virginia lawmakers will take a look at the benefits she and other patients could realize, but she isn’t getting her hopes up too high.

She’s written letters and made phone calls. She’s met with senators and delegates. She plans to continue advocating until she has access.

“I would ask them to take one week of my medications and just try to function… Try to learn what it’s like to be on an anticonvulsant cocktail of three that I’m on every single day of my life and try to function like a normal human being.”

Holdren writes for the Beckley, West Virginia Register-Herald.