How a miracle gel got to the root of debilitating pain

A tree surgeon who had pioneering neuro-stimulators inserted into his back after suffering great agony following a hernia operation has had the devices removed after a cream sorted his pain.

Tom Lanaghan, 37, had spent more than a decade on a cocktail of drugs but because they were ineffective the pioneering tech was attached subcutaneously to his dorsal root nerves.

However, a chance encounter with Farard Darver of Healthcare International Research saw him try HEMPE – a brand of CBD products– that did what nothing else could.

Tom immediately felt an improvement and subsequently had the ‘dorsal root ganglion stimulators’ removed from his back.

He has drastically reduced the amount of pain killers he takes and anticipates that he will soon be able to go cycling with his sons, something he has been unable to do since the hernia problem.

HEMPE is one of the brands created by Darver, a former boyband singer and army green beret commando.

Tom, a married father of two from Southampton, said: “It was in 2012 when I had been cutting down a tree and my hernia exploded.

“I had to have emergency surgery and basically the nerve never recovered and it left me in huge amounts of pain.

“I always thought I’d be a tree surgeon for life. I loved it and was earning good money and had a good lifestyle, but I just couldn’t carry on.

“Dealing with the pain became impossible and I tried everything. I was taking tramadol, pregabalin, naproxen, and amitriptyline – but I was still in agony.

“In 2020 I saw a different surgeon who fitted two neuro-stimulators under my skin.

“These were good for localised pain but I was still struggling and some days I just couldn’t get out of bed.

“Last summer I was at the Gardener’s World trade show at the NEC in Birmingham where I was selling garden machinery and Farard was there with his HEMPE product.

“I have tried a lot of things over the years so I wasn’t expecting anything and I was quite sceptical.

“But the effects were immediate and I instantly felt it working on my back. The relief was amazing.

“I took some of the gel away and used it on the other area that was causing me pain – my groin where the hernia was.

“Words are hard to find to describe what a game changer it was – instantly I felt it working and the pain was going. I couldn’t believe it.

“Earlier this year when my neuro-stimulators required replacing I asked for them to be removed.

“The surgeon wasn’t happy but I knew that the HEMPE gel was the best thing for reducing the pain.

“It is also working on the scar tissue left when the devices were removed and now when I wake up I use the gel and I’m flying by the time I have my first cup of tea.

“I hope to soon be able to go cycling with my kids, which is something I just haven’t been able to do. It is miraculous, life-changing stuff.

“I have reduced the number of pain killers I take by half and aim to reduce that further.”

Farard, who lives in Lymington, Hants, and whose company is based in Wimborne, Dorset, said: “I never get tired of hearing stories like this.

“The effects Tom talks about were the same I experienced when I used CBD for the first time following an injury while serving in Afghanistan.

“It prompted me to give up my military career in order to launch HEMPE, for health and wellness, and MotherSage, for beauty and skincare.

“I am so pleased Tom has found something that will manage his pain and it shows it can be better than drugs and surgery.”

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