Supporters of the Facial Pain Research Foundation are raising funds for research through the Run Your Face Off (RYFO) program! Here we are highlighting our first two groups of runners, Ashleigh Burroughs (her mother has TN) and her team running the Cambridge Mass Half Marathon and Jordan Braamse (he has TN) running the London Marathon!
The first Facing My Pain Live Interview, hosted by journalist Hanna Ghabhain, featured professional ATV racer and trigeminal neuralgia patient Marcia Garcia.
Marsha Garcia is an ATV racer, non-profit leader, event facilitator, mother, wife, grandmother, and person diagnosed with trigeminal neuralgia – all hats that she wears with determination and strength. Watching Marsha speed through the trails of the Arizona desert, it may seem difficult to believe that she is diagnosed with a neuropathic chronic pain disorder – especially one that can be triggered by outdoor elements such as wind and jolting movements.
Kelsey Darragh’s job revolves around talking. All. The. Time. About everything. And she’s good at it, too – having created a candidly relatable, international presence on Buzzfeed, YouTube, TikTok, and other leading online platforms. So, it may come as a huge shock that she was diagnosed with neuropathic pain impacting her jaw—the thing she uses all day for work.
Kathleen remembers down to the minute when she began experiencing symptoms of Trigeminal Neuralgia. It was March 9, 2004, at approximately 7:05 p.m.
She knew because she is Rebecca’s mother: She carried her child close to her heart, knows every note of her favorite song, how the light of excitement dances in the colors of her eyes, what makes her laugh and cry.
“Oh, no, a toothache,” I thought. I didn’t know, because I had no idea it existed, that I was experiencing the first symptoms of Trigeminal Neuralgia, the kind of agony typical of the disease, one of the most painful illnesses known to humanity.
Let’s face it. Living with a debilitating chronic health condition and a global pandemic at the same time are a “double whammy” with unthinkable impacts.
It seemed like Trigeminal Neuralgia took everything from Erin Canter. After being diagnosed, her entire identity shifted and she lost many critical aspects of what made Canter herself: the ministry she loved, her job, an active lifestyle, and social world.
Tiffany Lynd was only 18 years old when she first experienced the pain of Trigeminal Neuralgia. Eighteen, at the precipice of the rest of her life. Eighteen, anticipating all that could be subsequent. Lynd dreamed of working in sports – never that she would begin experiencing symptoms of facial neuralgia her senior year of high
