Tally Nothey

Sitting on the floor confused and dazed I watched my husband, a proud strong unbreakable man with his head in his hands and tears flowing uncontrollably.

I was numb, never in my life had I ever experienced a total loss of control. This can't be true. I must be dreaming or yes, it was a mistake, yes that's what it was, a mistake.

Sadly it wasn't, our beautiful son, our dream child that we had waited and prayed for so long had been just diagnosed with severe autism.

With one sentence, our lives changed forever. Even as I say this I cannot contain the tears, pain and disbelief. We were plunged unprepared and unwillingly into unchartered and turbulent waters.

We learnt very quickly there is little or no support for us or roadmap to follow. It's like the blind leading the blind searching for answers and support.

I tried, yes, really tried to join the support groups and local authority autism awareness courses, but I was left broken being told what my son would never do and what my life as a caregiver was going to bring.

Then something extraordinary happened, I just couldn't take it anymore. This was not going to be my life or my son's life. Why should someone who is just reading from her notes be able to dictate my future to me? and I snapped. From being a mild-mannered woman, I became a raging bull!! I became a fighter and a believer in a better future.

My son's diagnosis was dire. He would never speak or be aware of anyone else, he would need 24/7 care. I looked at my beautiful boy and I could see more, much more. I realised at that moment that whatever path I chose it would be a self-fulfilling prophecy. So I chose a different path to the annoyance of the local authorities.

I home schooled my son, I hired therapists who believed as I do that nothing is set in stone and there is always something that can be done to improve the life of my son. We discovered his learning style and worked with him. Not forcing a square peg into a round hole - we watched and learnt from him. In that time he learnt to speak, he learnt to read and he learnt to deal with the outside world.

We still have a very long way to go but we, as a family have grown closer together as others have fallen apart. Our son is growing as others are still locked in their world.

It was because of my ongoing journey and need to support and guide other families I set up Parent Angels. We're not a support group that pats you on the back a