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-Five years is my constant companion. 

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 grew. 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 and chronic fatigue became apparent as secondary conditions.

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 prayer warriors worldwide who were there for me 24 hours a day. I experienced amazing improvements in my health but being bedridden was making me depressed.

A good friend suggested I write 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 service. 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 spine surgeries in August 2017, I have recovered amazingly quickly but my lifestyle had changed a little and I was less active.

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 lockdowns, 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. A volunteer position I enjoyed for a few years.

My father passed away at the age of 96 in July 2021. I spent the last ten days at his bedside during a Covid 19 lock-down. The nursing home staff were wonderful, and management set up my own room for privacy and a place to sleep.

From late 2021 I took on the challenge as Pastoral Care Co-Ordinator at our church. I met many people and sat with those in the last hours of their life. It was an amazing time of my life and a ministry I felt very blessed to be a part of,

Early August 2022 I needed surgery to repair my right hip muscles – the gluteus minimus and gluteus maximus muscles. I spent almost two weeks in hospital followed by eight weeks at home in a wheelchair with no weight bearing.

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 checkup went well.

2024 has so far been a healthy year except for a Fibromyalgia flare-up in April. This one was unexpected but took just a few weeks to recover. Fibromyalgia and Arthritis are not easy to live with, and they don’t help when undergoing extremes in weather.

I resigned from my Pastoral Care Coordinator position at the end of September 2025 leaving a team of twelve to take pastoral care into the future.  At the time, chronic fatigue had hit me hard as too the worse Fibromyalgia flare up in years. Arthritis became a big issue.

My recovery this time has been slow, but my garden has been a huge part of my recovery. I still have a lot of health issues to deal with at this time.

Chrissy Siggee

First written June 26th, 2018 – Latest update May 14th, 2024 & February 2026.

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