The Princess of Wales has taken a step back from her royal duties since news of her cancer diagnosis, so one can only imagine Kirsty Kerr's amazement when she received a special letter on behalf of the future Queen just two weeks ago.
Kirsty, whose six-year-old daughter Isla has coeliac disease, reached out to Her Royal Highness back in December after reading a statement from the Princess's Shaping Us campaign, focusing on children's mental health.
Little Isla, then five, was struggling to cope with feeling different from her school friends, having to manage her autoimmune condition by maintaining a strict gluten-free diet, as well as coping with having less energy than her friends. "In her own little five-year-old way, she was starting to struggle," Kirsty explained.
"You can never switch off. I'll be surprised if she doesn't grow up with some kind of anxiety around food. She understands the pain if she gets glutened, but she just kept saying to us: 'I don't like being gluten-free.'"
© Kirsty Kerr"I've never seen anyone really talk about how it affects kids growing up and the impact on their mental health over something completely out of their control. I thought: 'I'll go full mum mode and write a letter to another mum [Kate].'"
"Obviously, you have to address it the right way. I actually started it by saying that it feels really strange writing such a formal letter when I'm writing to you [Kate] as one mum to another because she's got three children. Who knows what they go through because they are different as well, but for a totally different reason."
Following her letter, Kirsty received a thoughtful response from Kate's office. See the full reply in the image below.
The message concluded with a personal touch from Kate: "It was most thoughtful of you to take the trouble to write as you did. The Princess of Wales asked me to send her very best wishes to you and your family."
"My big sister is very close to Kate's age; we're the same generation and at the same kind of stage. Isla has just turned six, and her youngest, Prince Louis, is six. Hopefully, when she read it, she could just see I'm a mum doing the best I can."
© Kirsty KerrAs for Isla, she was delighted to hear from the Princess. Kirsty explained, "It sounds silly, but Isla said: 'Mummy, Princess Kate understands that I'm gluten-free.' I think it just helped her feel a bit seen.
"She was absolutely thrilled and excited. She thinks Kate is the most glamorous woman in the whole world," Kirsty said.
© Kirsty KerrAdding: "After the coronation last year, Isla always asks for 'Princess Charlotte hair,' where her hair is plaited at the sides with the bauble at the back. Because Charlotte is three years older, she is therefore very cool."
What is Coeliac Disease?
The leading charity for coeliac disease, Coeliac UK, explains: "Coeliac disease is an autoimmune condition where the body's immune system attacks its own tissues when gluten is consumed.
"For someone with coeliac disease, ongoing consumption of gluten will prevent the gut from healing and, over time, can lead to serious complications such as osteoporosis, anaemia, infertility, and in rare cases, small bowel lymphoma."
How is it managed?
Coeliacs rely on their community to keep them safe. Anyone with an autoimmune disease must adhere to a very strict gluten-free diet, which means absolutely no cross-contamination. It can take as little as one crumb, to be exact, no more than 20 parts per million, which is enough to cause serious harm, so friends and family, as well as restaurants, must have an extensive understanding of how to prepare food safely.
Long-term health issues include osteoporosis, anaemia, infertility, and in rare cases, small bowel lymphoma.
