Jereme Lane

Journalist

Julatten local and determined mother of four, Crystal Leonardi has published her first book, Boy of Steel, a dramatic true story of the hope, love and resilience of one FNQ family. Crystal sat down with Newsport at the signing of her new book and shared some of her story.

Crystal Leonardi was born and raised in Cairns but now lives, and writes, from the Leonardi family farm in Julatten, where Crystal and her husband Sam have built their home. The farm is Crystal’s happy place now but last year there was no happy place for Crystal and her family as the youngest son Sebastian was diagnosed with brain cancer in January 2020, aged just two years old.

Crystal and Sam moved to Brisbane full-time to give Sebastian access to the best medical treatment available. During the family’s time in Brisbane receiving treatment for Sebastian, Crystal began compiling and logging the mountains of medical records and other paperwork that are part and parcel of long-term treatment in a cancer ward. During this time she also began journaling about her experiences as a way to deal with the stress and emotion of the ordeal, which was putting a huge strain on her mental health.

“After four bouts of post-natal depression and an episode of PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) last year, I had a lot of things to get off my chest. I studied writing at university and I have always turned to writing during good or bad times as a release.”

So after a year of meticulous organising and record-keeping, combined with the countless journal entries, Crystal realised that she had unintentionally constructed everything about her family’s year from hell into a narrative.

“It actually just flowed really smoothly and so I tidied it up, put a couple of chapters together and sent it to my cousin in Sydney who is a book editor. Georgia called me back and said this is really good and there’s a big market for this type of book.”

Crystal decided to go for it and began the task of turning everything she had compiled into a book.

“In January this year, on the anniversary of Sebastian’s diagnosis, I felt like it was a good time to end the story and bring it to a close, despite there still being a lot of uncertainty ahead. Sam especially, felt very protective of our story so it took him quite a while to be able to read the book. The events of 2020 were something that we were all recovering from, so it was quite confronting to revisit each set back and complication. It dives into my personal struggles and the effect it had on my mental health, and the impact Sebastian's diagnosis had on us as a family and me as a mother. During the turmoil, we never thought for a second that our journey would someday be published in a book so it was really important that Sam felt comfortable for me to share our experience, as it’s his story too.”

After Sam read the story, Crystal ran with it and only a few months later she’s sitting at her first ever book signing at Whileaway Bookstore & Cafe on Macrossan Street.

"It feels surreal, to be honest. I’m surprised at how many people came, I'm almost out of books! This is my proudest moment as an individual. I’m a mother and a wife and they come with their own moments of pride and huge amounts of love, but I've been at home now raising kids for 11 years so this is beyond my wildest dreams. To be doing something like this for myself while being able to maintain my important role as a mother and wife, is incredibly empowering. I’m really happy to be able to draw on my own experience and hardship to hopefully help others, because I think that's what life's all about."

Boy Of Steel by Crystal Leonardi is available worldwide in either eBook or print, retailing for $30.95. For a list of stockists visit crystalleonardi.com/shop.

The official launch of Boy of Steel will be at Smithfield Library on 15th October, during Mental Health Awareness Week. For more details, go to Crystal's website crystalleonardi.com.