In July 2018, our amazing beautiful boy Leo aged just 3½ was diagnosed with Autism 💙

We had little to no knowledge & exposure of Autism, what it was, how it presented itself or it’s challenges (yet ironically we were living with it and it affects our everyday life).

As our 1st child, apart from him being massively behind on his speech (to which we thought he’d eventually catch up) & having a few quirks, we were completely clueless. After all he “looks” like a normal boy (which has become my most hated phrase - FYI Autism doesn’t have a “look”).

We were told parenthood was hard and assumed this was the norm that everyone talked about. Looking back, when we talked to other parents nothing ever seem to resonate.

However 6 months before his diagnosis, I had a lightbulb moment💡watching Christine McGuinness (Paddy McGuinness’s wife) on tv talking about their autistic kids. Finally their was a parent who struggles married up to what we were experiencing, it felt like she was talking about our boy (especially as their son is also called Leo).

I was very heavily pregnant 🤰at the time, so to say this knocked me sideways in my already very emotional state, is a massive understatement!

Strangely enough on the day he was diagnosed at clinic to some extent it was somewhat of a relief. We’ve been on a massive learning curve ever since.

🧩Autism Jersey has been an incredible support service for us and I’d like to show them some gratitude by getting sponsored to chop ✂️my hair which I’ve been growing for sometime now and have become quite fond of.

https://autismjersey.org

I would highly appreciate it if you could please supported me with some kindness by rubbing some pennies 💰together (even if it’s just the change you find down the back of the couch, it all helps).

My hair will be donated to another amazing cause The Little Princess Trust 👸🏼who makes wigs for children who’s sadly lost their own through cancer treatment or other conditions.

https://www.littleprincesses.org.uk/donate-

hair/