Chasing Jack: A humorous account of raising children with autism

Alice Honeysett is a young vet and mother of two small children. Her husband works as a property manager in the city. Her life changes forever when she finds out that both her children have autism. Her diary is a bitter-sweet, humorous account of her struggle to cope with family life while also dealing with her own anxieties. The diary begins with the diagnosis of her two-year old son Jack. Within a few months her five year old daughter Bella is diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. She gives up her career as a vet to focus on providing early intervention and to teach her children to speak before the dreaded portcullis comes down, when it will be too late to change the course of their development. They both make such good progress that she and Rory, her stoical husband, impulsively decide to add two Jack Russell puppies and a third child to the chaos. Alice is full of fear that autism will strike again in her third child, Sophie. As the stress and chaos of family life increases, Alice misguidedly decides to return to work as a form of escape. However, the pressure of work combined with the sudden and unexpected diagnosis of cancer in her father, completely shatters her. It takes a complete collapse before Alice realises she needs to slow down, stop trying to fix everything and to reach an acceptance that life doesn't always go to plan. The diary ends in 2008 but is left open for the story which continues.