With every chronic pain diagnosis comes a story. For some, it reads like a mystery novel—the patient races against time to uncover the source of their suffering, piecing together clues in search of a diagnosis. For others, the cause is unambiguous—an injury, an illness, an inflection point. Something that changes everything.

But always, there’s a protagonist (patient), an antagonist (pain), and an arc filled with tension, uncertainty, and transformation. Those, of course, are the key ingredients of a compelling story.

For me, it was 2016. I was up against an unsolvable hip-sciatic injury that had completely derailed my life. Mercifully, the hip stayed mostly quiet when I was lying down. After considerable time spent railing against my misfortune, I reluctantly asked myself a new question:

What could I do lying down?

I could write.

But what would I write about? My experience with chronic pain? Had anyone even done that?

A search for books about chronic pain didn’t turn up much back then, but I did find Model Patient: My Life as an Incurable Wise Ass by Karen Duffy. I remembered “Duff” from her days as an MTV VJ and Revlon model in the late ‘80s. Fast forward twenty-five years, and here she was writing about an agonizing condition I had never heard of. I read the book quickly and felt deep sympathy for all she had lost. But I also felt something else: a connection.

A year later, she released Backbone: Living with Chronic Pain Without Turning Into One. I devoured that too. Once again, I was struck by her resilience. What stayed with me most was how she refused to let chronic pain take over the narrative. Yes, it was her plot twist, but it was never the main character. She used humor. She stressed attitude. She drew a powerful line between pain and suffering. The book was a testament to how she chose to live each day.

One of my favorite authors, Dennis Lehane, once said, “The best thing that can happen to people entering creative professions is the dwindling of all other possibilities.”

Chronic pain had pretty much dwindled all of mine.

So, lying down, I began to write my story—Nothing So Broken—hoping it would be therapeutic and, maybe, offer a new voice to the small but growing library of books written by those living with chronic pain.

In my story, I focus on two people who deeply inspired me: my father, a Vietnam veteran struggling with PTSD and the effects of Agent Orange poisoning; and a close childhood friend who suffered a traumatic brain injury in his early twenties. Their accounts are both heartbreaking and miraculous. Exploring how their journeys shaped me felt like the right approach—one that gave my own story wider perspective, showing how connection and resilience transcend even the most painful obstacles.

The writing process has been both healing and rewarding. It gave me purpose—something that’s vital when you’re living with chronic pain and the depression that often tags along. It also gave me a creative challenge. Before my injury, I was an engineer, immersed in logic and math. Creativity didn’t come easily at first. I had to work at it. I read a lot—especially memoirs—and I wrote a lot. I played with style, experimented with tenses, and searched for an authentic voice. I worked with a mentor. I joined two writing groups where we read and critiqued each other’s chapters. At first, I was scared as hell, sharing my writing and pain with others. But the writers were kind and understanding about my limitations. Our friendships grew beyond writing—and with them, so did my quality of life.

Now, I hope sharing my story can help others, the way Karen’s helped me.

—by Chris Richards

About the Author

Chris Richards is a writer, engineer-turned-memoirist, and chronic pain advocate. His debut book, “Nothing So Broken,” blends his own story with those of his father, a Vietnam veteran living with PTSD and Agent Orange exposure, and a close friend with a traumatic brain injury. He is committed to supporting the chronic pain community, donating all royalties from his book to the U.S. Pain Foundation. Learn more at his website.