James Hunt spent his days commuting to London, where he ran a successful marketing firm.

But when her children Jude and Tommy were young, they were diagnosed with autism and she decided to take full-time care of them and her parents.

James, from Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex, started blogging about his life nine years ago and now has more than a million followers on social media.

Here, in his own words, James talks about his hopes for his teenage sons’ future.

When my oldest son Jude was a baby, he was slow to crawl and did not respond to his name. He kept looking out the window, he was far away and almost in a different world.

His mother Charlotte, my ex-wife, first expressed concern when he was eight months old, but I thought he was a little behind because he was born prematurely.

We went to the doctor several times before he was diagnosed with autism in 2009 when he was 18 months old.

At the time, the information out there was very clinical, most of the things we were reading were from NHS websites and medical journals. I felt like I couldn’t accept it and I had a lot of unanswered questions.

Three years later we went through the same diagnosis with Tommy at the same age.

I knew a lot more about autism than when we had Jude, but boys have always been very different.

I didn’t enjoy Tommy’s first year of life as much as I could because I spent so much time watching him and looking for signs.

He achieved some milestones much faster than Jude, but he did not make eye contact with anyone and became easily frustrated and enjoyed playing alone.

Around the same time, when Jude was four years old, he suffered a major meltdown and began to physically hurt himself.

Jude can’t speak, so it’s very difficult for him to explain what’s wrong. That was the most difficult period of my life.

He would wake up at night, scream and hit himself. Thankfully, as Jude has grown, and we have learned more about meeting his needs, it has gotten much better.

Unfortunately at the time Tommy was a big trigger for her because he was loud and unpredictable. Tommy was scared of them hurting themselves so we often had to keep them separated.

In 2016, my wife Charlotte and I sadly decided to separate. We made the incredibly difficult decision to separate Jude and Tommy and we felt guilty, like we were failing.

But Jude was immediately like a different child, you could feel his anxiety, so we knew it was the right decision.

Jude is now 16 and loves music so we go on long car trips listening to the radio. It is one of the few places where he feels safe and can relax.

There have been times when he became too eager to do this and we ended up staying home, but he is fine at the moment.

Tommy is 13 years old, and he is cheeky, mischievous, funny and curious about everything around him. She loves books and puzzles. He is not fully verbal but he does use a communication device.

I recently had one of the best days with Jude and Tommy.

In the past, when we tried to do anything to celebrate Christmas, it never went well, it was too overwhelming for them. But we went to see Father Christmas and made such special memories.

Nine years ago I started sharing stories of our lives online on a weekly blog. then i started Facebook, InstagramAnd tiktok accounting book.

In the beginning it was a way to show friends and family what our lives were really like. Jude and Tommy struggled with social opportunities, so we stopped going.

I could never find the words to explain, and I wanted to show how proud I was of them, so I started writing instead.

I didn’t realize how much our stories would resonate with others or how much it would help me.

I learned so much about autism, connected with people from all over the world, and found a passion for helping other families.

I am fortunate that I am able to earn a living through social media. I had to leave my previous job to be there for the boys.

I launched a clothing line last year that delivers positive messages about autism, disability, and neurodivergence. I love getting messages from people saying they came across someone wearing a hoodie and it started a conversation.

I opened a shop in Burnham-on-Crouch where we stock clothes and wrap and ship orders.

It’s a place for people in the community to hang out, we have a sensory room in our shop and we get a lot of parents coming in who want to interact.

Everyone working in the shop is a parent, carer or autistic, so they can share their experiences with customers.

I always try to focus on positive things and not think too far ahead, but there are days when my mind runs away with me.

This will be a big challenge when boys leave school at the age of 19.

It’s extremely scary because suddenly you have to trust completely new people.

There is a part-time college I hope they can go to, but it’s a huge unknown and there are big decisions to be made.

You feel like you have to live forever to take care of them, and this is the biggest fear for many parents.

Jude and Tommy will need support throughout their lives, and I am beginning to realize that I may not always be able to provide that for them.

I don’t know what the future will look like, but I know I need to think about how to help them live as independently as possible, and prepare for the days when I’m not here.

Autism means we have experienced some supreme highs, and experienced some lows that are far lower than I could have ever imagined.

It has taught me to cherish and enjoy the simple things and I just want the boys to be happy.

When I look back at how I felt when he was diagnosed, I want to tell myself that everything will be okay.

Those first few years can be a really scary and emotional time. You feel like you don’t know what you’re doing.

Don’t shut everything out, find people who speak with open hearts. Your friends and family want to help, but they don’t know how yet.

You will go through the most challenging and difficult days of your life but you will learn a lot from your boys and your love for them will bring you success.

As told to Charlie Jones

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