Local pizzeria shares why they moved to Colorado to help daughter with medical needs

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- Saving lives one pizza slice at a time, KRDO spoke with the owners of Slice420 who explain how moving to Colorado to gain access to legal medical marijuana helped save their daughter's life.

The Patriarca family, originally from Florida, moved to the Centennial State after their daughter was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and suffered daily seizures. They say the decision stemmed from wanting to find more treatment options for her, including medical marijuana.

"Sofia suffered from seizures from six weeks of age and they told us she wouldn’t live past a year old so we moved here to colorado to seek legal access to medicinal marijuana and Sofia is thriving five years later," said Stefany Patriarca.

Sofia is now 8-years-old.

"With the help of cannabis she's gotten off of all but one pharmaceutical and she's on three oils and she went from having hundreds of seizures a day lasting to a minimum of 30 minutes all day long to having zero to three seizures lasting under thirty seconds," said Patriarca.

The newest Slice420 location on Oro Blanco Dr. is wheelchair accessible. The owners say the accessibility and inclusiveness are inspired by their daughter.

"To continue our mission we now do 'Giving Tuesday,'" explained Patricia. "The first Tuesday of every month we donate ten percent of our daily sales from both locations to an organization that is near and dear to our heart."

For five years, the owners of Slice420 have been advocates for the use of medicinal marijuana for children with special needs, making that their mission daily through their pizza.

So far this year, Slice420 has donated nearly $4,200 to Southern Colorado non-profits supporting their mission.