For Grace founder Cynthia Toussaint has completed Part One of a follow up memoir to 2013's Battle for Grace that will take an unflinching look at how early and familial trauma led to a lifetime of illness. Spurred by recent cancer diagnoses, Toussaint has become an expert in the connection between trauma and chronic illness, and is getting terrific early feedback while finding the process cathartic. We're certain her finished work, Scapegoat: How Childhood Trauma and Family Dysfunction Nearly Took My Life - and How I Survived (working title), will help women in pain identify their trauma, find healing and move on to post-traumatic growth.
For the most part, life is made up of a series of "natural" steps - going to school, finding a career, starting a family, on and on. But what happens when you develop chronic pain so severe and disruptive it throws you out of the flow of life? How do you adjust and what can you do to get back on track? Women In Pain Nation leaders Cynthia Toussaint and John Garrett interview mother-daughter team, Glenna McPartland and Christine King, for a "Partners In Pain" panel that dives into the ins and out of losing step due to pain and how to reconnect with life force.
Comeback stories of renewal and redemption from the depths of the chronic pain experience is this year's Story of the Month theme - and we kick it off with an account filled with inspiration. At age 45, Mary Ruth Velicki had a full life, complete with family and a successful career. Then pelvic pain struck and her world came crashing down. Instead of giving up, Mary Ruth took control of her healing which included confronting long repressed traumas. Now pain free, she is once again whole and back on track authoring a book series to encourage others to fight on!
Having championed a pain awareness month resolution for 22 years in California, our 23rd finds itself without an author. But Team For Grace has been there, done that and we're not going to throw in the towel now. Recently, we were informed by Assembly Member Nick Schultz's office they need to decline for a repeat in 2026, so we're burning up the phone lines to Sacramento in hopes of ID'ing a legislator who'll take the lead on this effort that brings needed awareness of the plight of millions challenged by daily, persistent pain. Please send positive mojo!
