Between two worlds: A radiation therapist, a mother, and the lessons of autism

My career in Radiation Therapy (RT) began in 2005, fresh from a postgraduate Master's program in RT-ambitious, determined, and eager to make a difference.I threw myself into clinical work, pushing to excel in complex techniques and fast-paced workflows while also engaging in research, presenting, publishing, and contributing wherever I could.Those early years were formative: I was proud of my achievements, proud of the pace I could sustain, and proud of the professional identity I was building as a Radiation Therapist.Motherhood didn't dim that drive-it simply reshaped it.My first child, a daughter, arrived in 2014; my second, a son, in 2016 (see Fig. 1 ).Life became fuller, louder, richer, and more complicated.Like many working mothers, I convinced myself that I could hold all the parts of my life together if I simply worked hard enough.But quietly, beneath the surface, things were shifting.I always knew, deep down, that something did not feel quite right with my eldest-though I resisted acknowledging it.No parent wants to imagine that their child might struggle in a world that can be so unforgiving.So, I brushed aside the worry, telling myself she was sensitive, somewhat quirky, and moved through the world in her own way-that naming the worry would somehow make it real.In 2018, my daughter had just started kindergarten, and my son was almost two.I was preparing to return to work after two years of maternity leave when, one April morning, a kindergarten staff member asked me to speak with the kindergarten director.I assumed it was something small-maybe a question, maybe a request for help at an event.