Hi, I’m Chrissy. I’m a wife, a mother of two, and a grandmother of five.

There’s always something going on in our lives even now that my husband, Norm, has retired. I write mostly poetry and teen fiction and sometimes dabble in other genres just for fun. I also like photography so I often use my own photos when presenting poems.

My garden is my little sanctuary of peace, relaxation, prayer and often fun. My husband of forty-three years, on January 10th, 2024, is my constant companion and our five grandchildren keep us young.

With a limited education but a lot of determination, hard work, and encouragement from my husband, I entered university to graduate with a Graduate Certificate in 2004 at the age of forty-seven. This experience then propelled me into doing something more with my hobby of writing and ventured into publishing short stories and poems in local and online magazines and newspapers. This I continued to do for about five years.

Late in December 1998, I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia but my passion to help teenagers with eating disorders emerged. No health issue was going to keep me from writing my first novel –  ‘Out of the Shadows – Jenna’s Secret’, a fictional story of a young girl who crossed the line.

During the editing and preparation of the teen novel, my health deteriorated further and I spent much of my time in bed and housebound. Nasty symptoms of Fibromyalgia began to emerge with often terrifying outcomes. It was also at this time, Arthritis became apparent as a secondary condition.

Being a Christian doesn’t make me perfect and I wasn’t coping at all with pain and the many other symptoms I was experiencing at that time. I built a bond with a group of pray-ers worldwide who were there for me and with me through this time. I experienced amazing improvements in my health but being bedridden was making me depressed.

A good friend suggested I wrote down my thoughts in a journal. Writing again became my daily motivation but this time I recorded my feelings and thoughts poetically. That journal was the inspiration I needed to write another book. A few months after a post-illness trip to America, my poetry and words of
encouragement was published in my book ‘Glimpses of His Glory’.

Poems from the Heart of Our Mum was the inspiration of my father, Bert, who was saddened that Mum’s poems had never been published before she passed away in 2011. I published this book on her behalf – the author of those poems, Ruth Barrington (nee Lawson). My siblings David, Philip, Joy, and myself also contributed a poem, letter, or article to reflect our impressions of Mum’s poetry in our lives. Ray Law, Mum’s church pastor, wrote a poem for her funeral and this too has been included at the end of the book. Unfortunately, because Mum wrote in ‘old English’ I was only able to have a couple of her works edited by a UK editorial serve. The works were written by my mum directly as she wrote in her journals.

My husband and I cared for my father after my mother’s death in October 2011 until December 2016 when my health again crashed. Dad entered a nursing home nearby so I could concentrate on my diagnosis, treatment, and recovery.

After two major surgeries in August 2017, I have recovered amazingly quickly but my lifestyle has changed a little and I’m less active. My father passed away at the age of 96 in July 2021.

In December 2019, my husband retired from full-time work. We sold up and moved up the coast where the weather has always been more suitable for my health issues. The day after our furniture and belongings arrived, I started volunteer work at the Koala Hospital as a tour guide. During the 2020 Covid-19 lock-downs, and the knockdowns of life we never knew before, I expanded my volunteer training at the local Koala Hospital to include rescues and koala care.

Early August 2022 I needed surgery to repair my right hip muscles – the gluteus minimus and gluteus maximus muscles. I spent almost three weeks in hospital followed by eight weeks in a wheelchair.

Late August 2023 I underwent yet another surgery. This time to repair the medial Meniscus on my left knee. Unfortunately, it was unsuccessful and in late November 2023, I underwent a full knee replacement. I recovered well and with my six month post operative check up soon, it looks promising.

2024 has so far been a healthy year except for a severe Fibromyalgia flare-up in April. This one was unexpected and took weeks to recover from a few of the severe symptoms. Fibromyalgia and Arthritis are not easy to live and they don’t help when undergoing extremes in my health.

However, life goes on and with God on my side, I will continue to do what He wants calls me to do. The Pastoral Care Team at our church I have coordinated since late 2022 has grown with many challenges as well as blessings. I enjoy what I do and intend to continue for as long as I can.

My writing has not been as regular as it once was but when I can, I write with all my heart.

 

Chrissy Siggee

First written June 26th, 2018 – Latest update May 14th 2024.

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