Your Stories

Each mother has a choice on how to bring their little one up and every mother is different. For the majority of us we wish, we hope and we strive to do our best, but as with all things in this world sometimes we are given challenges.

For us as a family, and in particular for myself, we were given a set of challenges from the onset with our daughter Emily. Born early one August morning 14 years ago, Emily had a fine set of lungs, but an inability to tolerate milk. She was prone to gracious windy outbursts and her weight gain was minimal, but despite many a visit to the doctor they insisted she was perfectly normal.

But I, together with the majority of mums, have a built in belief that ‘mother knows best’. It took many years for them to finally realise that there was a problem, but many tests later we had the diagnosis – lactose intolerance.

Often regarded to be a mild, non-life threatening illness, lactose intolerance is sometimes overlooked, but to those who have it and the families who watch their children suffer from it, it is indeed an all-encompassing and embarrassing illness.

Emily, never a child to moan or groan, would however voice an opinion when the intolerance was unbearable. Clearly we had to do something! A search on the internet resulted in the most valuable piece of information we had ever come across. Lactofree! WOW, yogurt too, and what joy cheese! Finally Emily could eat along with us, enjoy cakes and biscuits and cuddle up on a cold winters night with a hot chocolate, yes a hot chocolate made with milk!

Unfortunately, Emily’s troubles didn’t end there. Recently diagnosed with Scoliosis she underwent major surgery on her back to settle a curvature. Before her operation we had to undergo a very important x-ray, to check Emily’s bone density as her lactose intolerance meant that she had not taken in any dairy – and therefore bone-strengthening calcium – for years. But now that she has been on Lactofree for some time we were confident that she had ingested enough calcium for her body to withstand the operation – and our wishes came true! We strongly believe that without Lactofree, Emily might not have been able to have this life-changing operation.

Emily was incredibly brave throughout her full week’s stay in hospital and took control of her body and mind managing her own lactose intolerance. Her condition was a great talking point – it’s amazing how many professionals as well as lay people do not yet know what it is! But thanks to Emily it didn’t take long for them to become informed. We were able to give out information to one nurse in particular whose child showed the same signs that Emily had, so she instantly went to the local Sainsbury’s to purchase Lactofree. We even got progress reports throughout the week, her daughter appeared much better and she was off to the doctors to get a proper diagnosis!

Emily is now recovering; she has put on weight and is strong both physically and mentally. The lessons learned are simple, stay positive and be informed. Somehow Emily’s lactose intolerance has brought us closer and even though a mother’s love never falters, mine has grown, if that’s possible.