Just The Beginning...
This cheeky little monkey is the reason our family began our Free From journey.
When he was born, a medical issue meant that initially, I couldn’t produce enough milk to sustain him, and he had to be topped up with formula.
The formula made him quite ill and he suffered a lot. At one stage surgery was even discussed.
In the end, with a little (fantastic!) support, we were able to wean off the formula and while he was solely breastfed, as long as I avoided dairy, he was mostly (but not completely) well.
Skin Sores and Toxic Nappies
Once it was time for solid foods, we were advised that Thomas shouldn’t have any further issues with dairy now and we began weaning.
That advice turned out to be incorrect and he had awful issues with his skin and his digestive system - we pretty much needed a hazmat suit for changing nappies!!!
The waiting list for Dietitian support was very long so we began researching ourselves.
These photos were taken within about 40 minutes of each other after my friend ‘helped’ him eat some of her birthday cake’ and they were what kick started us on this journey.
Fed up with seeing him struggle and with the help of a medical friend, we began withdrawing
foods one at a time and adding them back in to identify what he could tolerate.
While studying the symptoms produced by each food we realized that there were foods that were causing issues for our other children. It transformed the way we eat as a family and sent us in search of foods (especially treats) that everyone could enjoy together.
New Birth
Chocolate was a particular stumbling block. We couldn’t find any that suited everyone as they all swapped one allergen for another, so the children had to eat different treats. Some of them tasted awful so we were left with unhappy bickering children.
In the end Simon decided he would try to make something for them to all enjoy together. One day when looking for music, he stumbled upon a video on YouTube of someone hand tempering chocolate on granite. Simon’s learning style due to his Asperger’s meant it didn’t take long for him master the skill and very soon we had happy children with happy tummies!
Whenever anyone visited, it became a thing that they wanted to know what new flavour he had made that week and could they taste some. Ultimately, this led to Freedom Chocolate being born in 2017 and that’s what’s allowed us to be here with you today.
Future Plans
Making chocolate is fantastic but our plans don't stop there.
Our children have additonal needs and our personal goal for our family is to build a buisiness to provide them with income and employment as adults, if they need it. But the big goal for Freedom Chocolate is much more than that. We want give that same peace of mind to other families who have loved ones who might find it hard to find or maintain employment due to additonal needs and more. Our dream is to provide supportive employment for those that need extra help in the workplace.
If you would like to help us with our mission, there are loads of ways to help.
• Place an order
• Share Freedom Chocolate on your social media
• Leave us a review
• Tell your friends about us
• If you work with employers to support those with additional needs in employment, please contact us
• Get in touch with any questions