About the author

Ellis Ng is a journalist and community advocate. This project was created when she was a final-year journalism student from the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information.

After a friend was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, she realised just how little chronic pain was discussed in Singapore. Ellis hopes that this project will help those who suffer find that they are not alone.

ellis-island.sg

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the following people, without whom this publication would not be possible:

Asst Prof Andrew Duffy, for guiding and mentoring me from the very beginning

The pain sufferers who spoke about their experience living with a chronic condition and their friends and families:
Ivy Li, Lim Hwei Ming, Shawn Danker, Joan Young, Evon Toh, Muhammad Hisham, Timothy Soh, Ann Chiam

The doctors and experts, for their patience in handling my questions:
Dr James Tan, Dr Yang Su-yin, Dr Tan Kian Hian, Dr Wong Li Lian, Dr Ho Kok Yuen, Dr Tjan Soon Yin, Asst Prof Andy Ho Hau Yan, Prof Lee Tat Leang, Dr Terrence Yap, Christopher Lo, Lim Yin Jia, Melissa Ong, and Sharon Mak

Hillary Tan Jia Lerk for laying out the physical copy of this project, and advising on the layout for this website

Kimberly Ang for the wonderful illustrations

Samuel He for his advice on visuals

My friends and family for their support and understanding

This project was originally hosted on Squarespace, and was reworked for GitHub Pages on Jekyll using Claude Opus 5.5. No AI was used in the reporting of this story.