“I am overjoyed that your scans were negative, and desperately sorry about your mother. It may be that by now she has moved on to a place that is so much better for her. From where she can reach to you, spirit to spirit. She will not want you to be unhappy and, in years to come, will be waiting for you.”
~ Jane Goodall, DBE, Founder, The Jane Goodall Institute

December 1, 2025

Dear Friend of For Grace,

At For Grace, 2025 proved to be another bountiful year of good work done well, despite deep heart break as our founder, Cynthia Toussaint, lost her beloved mother. Then her surrogate mother and long-time board member, Jane Goodall, passed. We honor their loving memories by pledging to continue making this world the best possible place for women challenged by chronic pain.

This year we proudly built on our Share Your Story project’s well-received theme of the connection between chronic pain and social isolation by adding the all-important, often overlooked caregiver’s voice. Cynthia was deeply touched during this, her hardest year, when fellow advocacy organizations, US Pain Foundation and American Chronic Pain Association, partnered to locate powerful narratives for us to spotlight. Among the many compelling stories, John Garrett, For Grace director, wrote about his lived experience as a 43-year caregiver dealing with loneliness and loss.

“Thank you for everything! I am honoured to share the stories of people who need to be heard and supported. And I had to mention For Grace because of your team’s dedication to helping others.”
Karen Hawthorne, Health Writer, The National Post

Another stellar media year for getting the plight out about women in pain far and wide as we contributed, consulted on and were featured in three major articles for The National Post, Canada’s #1 legacy print media. The stories focused on gender bias in pain care (this ran on International Women’s Day), migraines and emerging therapies (this during Pain Awareness Month in September). Cynthia continued her ongoing contributions to Pain News Network and For Grace’s The Fire Within Blog. Also, Team For Grace was contacted by CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s publisher to provide critical endorsement for his new chronic pain book, It Doesn’t Have to Hurt. Last but not least, Cynthia just wrote a deeply personal article about her 25 years with Jane that is under consideration for Maria Shriver’s The Sunday Paper.

We ask you to please make a tax-deductible 2025 financial contribution by online donation at forgrace.org – so we can continue our good work to bring new hope and understanding to millions of women worldwide whose lives are challenged daily by persistent pain.

“I am in awe that you are putting yourself out there and eager to cheer you on as you validate the hundreds of thousands of people who desperately need the community you are offering.”
~ Dr. Mary Driscoll, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Yale University

Our ever-gaining-in-popularity Women In Pain Nation Campaign moved into its second year with our weekly “Thought of the Day” and “Hot Take Interview” videos that explore the inside experience of women living with chronic pain. This year we’ve added “Partners In Pain” panels where For Grace leaders talk with couples about different aspects of how to cope and thrive with pain and caregiving responsibilities. Also, we’re excited to have launched our Acute Pain Awareness and Education Campaign that brings critical tools and resources to our community, via For Grace’s social media platforms, so that early-onset pain doesn’t become something worse.

“Having an organization dedicated to talking openly about pain—especially how women are perceived and treated—is crucial. We need more voices, and you both continue be instrumental in helping others feel confident sharing their lived experience.”
~ Nicole Hemmenway, CEO, U.S. Pain Foundation

The year has been marked with a number of tremendous collaborations that have made 2025 especially rewarding. We teamed with the Healing Works Foundation to revise their Woman and Pain pocket guide, along with signing on to two letters – one by the US Association for the Study of Pain that encouraged Congress to maintain pain research levels at the NIH and another to Medicare directors that promoted non-opioid options under the NOPAIN act. Additionally, we were thrilled to sponsor for the 22^nd year a resolution that proclaimed September as Pain Awareness Month and September 1^st as Women In Pain Awareness Day. After losing our Author in the 11^th hour due to the LA fires, we deeply appreciated Assembly Member Nick Schultz (CA – Burbank) stepping in and stepping up!

Not to be overlooked during an ultra-busy year, Cynthia continues to work on the third installment of our expressive arts therapy project, recording two more songs for a collection that will be titled “Magic” and dedicated to “Women In Pain who believe.” To complement this project, she’s singing these songs with talented, local musicians, bringing our message of music as a healer to Los Angeles audiences.

Please continue to support our on-going education and awareness efforts to create a better world for women in pain. Many, many thanks, and the happiest of holiday wishes to you and yours…

John Garrett
Director, For Grace

PS – For Grace Director John Garrett has been invited to join an NIH HEAL (“Helping to End Addiction Long-Term”) Initiative panel to give a caregiver’s perspective on upcoming clinical trials in pain research. As a PWLE individual (“People With Lived Experience”), Garrett is well suited to contribute as an advisor to this important effort that will improve research and care. The NIH HEAL Initiative aims to speed scientific solutions to the opioid epidemic and the crisis of chronic pain.

PPS – A dozen years after her first memoir, we’re excited to announce that Cynthia has written the initial eight chapters for her second. Since her cancer diagnosis in 2019 and recurrence in 2022, she has come to understand that rather than pain, it was childhood and ongoing familial trauma that molded her life.

Now an expert in the connection between trauma and chronic illness, she’s telling her story through a different lens. Cynthia’s getting terrific early feedback while finding the process tremendously healing and cathartic. We’re certain her finished work, Scapegoat, will encourage many women in pain to identify their trauma, pursue trauma release work and move on to post-traumatic growth. Hallelujah!