Callie Blackwell, from Watton, takes part in campaign at Parliament to legalise cannabis for medicinal use after giving it to her ill son

Callie Blackwell has released a book detailing the journey of her son Deryn's battle with cancer and recovery. Picture: Ian Burt (Image: Archant 2017)

Callie Blackwell joined protestors who gathered outside Parliament to lobby MPs to legalise the class B drug for medicinal use.

The event was organised by United Patients Alliance, which campaigns for the legal access to medical cannabis to treat chronic conditions.

In the House of Commons, Labour MP Paul Flynn raised a Ten-Minute Rule Bill for medical access to cannabis.

Labour MP Paul Flynn speaks at the campaign held by United Patients Alliance outside Parliament. Picture: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

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Mrs Blackwell's son Deryn was given days to live by doctors when he was 13. She secretly gave her son cannabis in a liquid form and said the drug saved his life.

The Blackwell family, Deryn, Dylan, Simon and Callie. Picture: Ian Burt (Image: Archant 2017)

'Twice I watched cannabis save his life when all other treatment had failed,' she said. 'I took his life in my hands and it saved him.'

She added: 'It is a matter of life and death and people are suffering needlessly every day. We cannot keep being quiet. We need people to say I consume it and it helps me.'

Diagnosed at 10 with leukaemia, 18 months later Deryn, now 17, was told he had he had another cancer - the rare Langerhans cell sarcoma.

He underwent three failed bone marrow transplants and was told by doctors that a fourth attempt would be his last chance. But Deryn got an infection and with no immune system he was given days to live.

North Norfolk MP Norman Lamb. Photo: DENISE BRADLEY (Image: Archant)

Mrs Blackwell gave him cannabis to ease his pain and to stop him being addicted to the drugs he was being administered by doctors.

She said it made her son became more relaxed. His blood count rose and his immune system recovered. Deryn is now working his way to becoming a chef.

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North Norfolk MP Norman Lamb, who presented a bill to Parliament proposing the introduction of a legal cannabis market in the UK in March 2016, visited campaigners to show his support.

He said: 'I just think if you pause and think about if for just a minute it seems to be a ludicrous state of affairs that we criminalise people who use cannabis for medical use.

'To me this should be treated as a health issue, not a criminal justice issue.'

Welsh Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi tweeted Mr Flynn's motion will go to a second reading in February.