About Us
Imagine waking up one day to what feels like someone stabbing you repeatedly in the face, each strike more intense than the last- in your forehead, your jaw, your eye, your lips, your mouth. Then the shocks start coming- what feel like volts of electricity coursing through one side of your face. And when the storm quiets, and the stabbing stops, you’re left with a dull, aching pain that persists until the next attack, leaving you vulnerable to any trigger- a simple breeze, a light touch, a bite of food, a kiss from a loved one . . .
That’s what life has been like every day for Amy Tomasulo since 2001. Amy is one of roughly 400,000 people in the US who suffers from TRIGEMINAL NEURALGIA (tri-GEM-uh-nul nuh-RAL-zhuh), a nerve disorder doctors classify as one of the worst pains known to mankind. Others simply call it “the suicide disease.” Trigeminal neuralgia strikes without warning, there are few truly effective treatments, and it is absolutely incurable.
That’s why Amy and her husband, WGN’s Pat Tomasulo, started “Laugh Your Face Off,” a comedy fundraiser to benefit The Facial Pain Research Foundation (facingfacialpain.org). After a successful debut in 2015, the event has raised over $4.6M, thanks to the tireless effort of their dedicated committee, and the people who come back year after year to support them.
This is one of the few groups in America funding research for a CURE, and they’re getting close. They’re either funding or supporting research projects focusing on repairing the fragile coating of a nerve, deciphering the role DNA plays in facial pain, using stem cells to rebuild and repair the nerve, and mapping pain pathways to the brain in order to block pain signals. If successful, these therapies have the potential to impact not just those who suffer from trigeminal neuralgia, but those who suffer from ANY nerve pain.
Please join us for a great night of comedy to benefit a great cause.
The
Foundation
The Facial Pain Research Foundation (FPRF) was established in 2011 with one singular mission: find a CURE for trigeminal neuralgia and related neuropathic facial pain, while also developing therapies to permanently stop other nerve-generated facial pains and diseases. We endeavored to be an all-volunteer organization, allowing us to avoid the bureaucracy that often plagues similar organizations, giving us the ability to approve and accelerate research quickly, and ensuring that 95¢ of every dollar pledged to us goes directly to our research. And in adhering to that mandate, the results have been nothing short of amazing.
The Foundation has created the first international force of scientists working together across a wide range of specialties to find a cure in research hubs across multiple US cities and four countries. Each project is under the direction of one or more scientists affiliated with a major university research center, and the foundation holds bi-annual meetings of its researchers on all its projects to create collaboration, accelerate the pace of research, and spur innovation through relationship-building and knowledge-sharing. We provide seed money for their novel research, encourage further funding through outside sources, and provide continued support through additional funds and collaboration of resources from other scientists.
We are a 501(c)3 organization, and the ONLY group in the world dedicated solely to ENDING THE PAIN!
Click here to visit the Facial Pain Research Foundation website.