Dr. Annabelle Manalo-Morgan: A Filipino-Canadian Scientist Redefines Epilepsy Treatment

Dr. Annabelle Manalo-Morgan never set out to challenge the medical status quo. She set out to save her son. In 2016, the Filipino-Canadian scientist gave birth to Macario—a name that means blessing. Days later, that blessing was thrust into crisis. Macario suffered a stroke, followed by relentless seizures. Doctors diagnosed cortical dysplasia and removed nearly forty percent of his brain in a final attempt to preserve his life. The prognosis was grim: limited speech, restricted movement, and an uncertain future shaped by medication and compromise.

Macario survived, but he was barely present. Heavy drug regimens left him sedated and unresponsive. To strangers, he appeared calm. To his mother, he was buried under pharmaceuticals.

As both a scientist and a mother, Manalo-Morgan refused to accept that this was the end of possibility.

She turned to research. In the margins of clinical literature, she repeatedly encountered cannabidiol—CBD—a compound derived from cannabis showing promise in epilepsy treatment. Like many in her field, she had once dismissed cannabis, its potential obscured by stigma rather than evidence. Desperation dismantled that bias.

Unable to find a CBD product that met her standards for purity and consistency, she made a decisive move: she created one herself. In the summer of 2016, Manalo-Morgan developed a pure, isolated CBD oil in her lab and began administering it to Macario through his feeding tube.

The results were undeniable. Seizures diminished. Awareness returned. Development followed. The formulation would later be named Masaya—joy.

Today, Macario walks, runs, laughs, and speaks. What science once predicted did not define him.

Manalo-Morgan’s personal fight became a broader mission: to bridge rigorous science and holistic medicine, dismantle stigma, and expand how we understand cannabis’ therapeutic potential. Her book, Mighty Flower, documents not just discovery, but conviction—the power of intellect guided by love.

This is not a story about cannabis alone. It is about what happens when grief meets science—and refuses to surrender.