In a field in rural Northampton County, thousands of green hemp shoots raise their spiky leaves toward the sky.
The fledgling plants belong to 14-year-old Rylie Maedler, who says medicine made from plants like these gave her a renewed chance at normal life, childhood and a beautiful smile. Now, she wants to help do the same for others.
Rylie is CEO of Rylie's Sunshine, a cannabis research and development company, and the founder of the Rylie's Smile Foundation nonprofit. With her new Virginia hemp farm, she hopes to improve the quality of medicine available to pediatric patients who can benefit from medical cannabis, just like she did.
In 2013, when Rylie was seven, her painful, shifting teeth seemed at first to only indicate that she'd need braces.
When her teeth started rapidly falling out and her face started changing shape, her parents realized something was very wrong.
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