^{Photo of the physical book, “Never Lost Again”, Courtesy: Chris Sigala}

For years, much of Chris Sigala’s childhood remained a story known only to a small circle of family members and close friends.

Experiences with homelessness, foster care and the loss of people important to him were pieces of his past that many of the people around him never knew.

Now, after spending more than two years writing, Sigala is sharing that story through his memoir, Never Lost Again, with a message he hopes readers carry with them long after they finish the book: a difficult past does not have to determine what comes next.

“I just reached a point where I could just tell my story honestly,” Sigala said. “I just wanted to share that, I guess, to encourage people that there is hope.”

Sigala grew up in Sweetwater, Texas, before later moving to El Paso. He has lived in the Galveston County area for more than 10 years.

Much of what he describes in the book had never been shared publicly before.

Other than some close friends and family members, Sigala said few people knew much about his childhood. Even some coworkers who learned about the book had difficulty believing what they were reading had actually happened.

“No, it’s definitely not make-believe,” he recalled telling them. “This is all actual real, true stories.”

Sigala said he experienced homelessness beginning when he was around 9 to 11 years old and estimated that period of instability lasted no more than about four years, extending into his early teenage years.

His childhood eventually took him into the foster care system. Sigala said he lived in two foster homes and also spent time living with his sister. His second foster family became his final foster home and is where the Sigala name came from.

Those foster families, he said, became an important part of his life.

“I think these last two foster homes pretty much helped me,” Sigala said. “I guess they meant everything.”

His experiences also shaped how he views homelessness today.

Sigala said people facing homelessness may believe it is something they cannot overcome. In his own case, he eventually had a caseworker after entering Child Protective Services, giving him support he did not initially have.

That experience is part of the larger message he hopes to convey through the memoir: people facing serious circumstances should not remain silent and should seek assistance when they need it.

“Your past doesn’t define your future,” Sigala said. “I’m a big believer in that.”

While writing openly about his childhood was difficult, Sigala said another part of the memoir proved even harder — writing about the death of his adoptive father from leukemia.

His father, he said, played a significant role in the person he became.

As his father underwent treatment, Sigala said he felt it was important for him to be there, just as his father had been there for him during the difficult years of his childhood.

“The whole time that he was there for me and all the stuff that I went through, I felt like I needed to be — that needed to be my number one focus,” he said.

The memories remain vivid.

“It still hits today,” Sigala said. “It’s like it was just yesterday.”

His biological father had also died years earlier. Sigala said one detail connecting the two men has stayed with him: his biological father and adoptive father shared the same birthday.

That date now carries memories of both.

Sigala is also beginning work on what he described as a documentary-type project connected to his story, although he said he is still determining how to put it together, particularly because portions of the story involve his late father.

For now, much of his focus has been on publishing Never Lost Again and sharing its message.

He has already seen at least one example of the story connecting with someone else.

Sigala recalled a coworker approaching him after reading the memoir and becoming emotional. The coworker told Sigala he had experienced abuse while growing up and said the book inspired him.

The encounter showed Sigala that experiences he kept largely private for years could resonate with someone who had faced struggles of his own.

“It felt good,” Sigala said. “I’m always there for everybody, but once I feel hard like that, I mean, it hits home too.”

Sigala does not expect every reader to have experienced the same circumstances he did. Instead, he hopes the larger lesson reaches people facing challenges of their own.

Everyone faces difficulties, he said, and while the circumstances may differ, the outcome does not always have to be dictated by what happened in the past.

He credits support from others and perseverance with helping him through his own circumstances. He also hopes his story encourages people who need help to speak up rather than remain silent.

“You’ve got to be the voice of the voiceless, essentially,” Sigala said.

For a story that remained largely untold for much of his life, that may ultimately be what Sigala hopes Never Lost Again becomes — not simply a record of what happened to him, but evidence that what happened before does not have to decide what happens next.

Never Lost Again is available on Amazon.